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Celtic sacred trees

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Many types of trees found in the Celtic nations are considered to be sacred, whether as symbols, or due to medicinal properties , or because they are seen as the abode of particular nature spirits. Historically and in folklore, the respect given to trees varies in different parts of the Celtic world. On the Isle of Man , the phrase 'fairy tree' often refers to the elder tree . The medieval Welsh poem Cad Goddeu (The Battle of the Trees) is believed to contain Celtic tree lore, possibly relating to the crann ogham , the branch of the ogham alphabet where tree names are used as mnemonic devices.

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104-538: The oak tree features prominently in many Celtic cultures. The ancient geographer Strabo (1st century AD) reported that the important sacred grove and meeting-place of the Galatian Celts of Asia Minor, Drunemeton , was filled with oaks. In an often-cited passage from Historia Naturalis (1st century AD), Pliny the Elder describes a festival on the sixth day of the moon where the druids climbed an oak tree, cut

208-506: A common ancestor . The Eocene salmon's fossil from British Columbia provides evidence that the divergence between Pacific and Atlantic salmon had not yet occurred 40 million years ago. Both the fossil record and analysis of mitochondrial DNA suggest the divergence occurred 10 to 20 million years ago during the Miocene . This independent evidence from DNA analysis and the fossil record indicate that salmon divergence occurred long before

312-456: A lai about an ash tree. The Proto-Celtic for 'ash' was * * onnos ; Old Irish, nin ; Irish, fuinseog ; Scots Gaelic, fuinnseann ; Manx, unjin ; Welsh, onnen ; Cornish, onnen ; Breton, onnenn . The pome fruit and tree of the apple is celebrated in numerous functions in Celtic mythology, legend, and folklore; it is an emblem of fruitfulness and sometimes

416-540: A bough of mistletoe, and sacrificed two white bulls as part of a fertility rite. Britons under Roman occupation worshipped a goddess of the oak tree, Daron, whose name is commemorated in a rivulet in Gwynedd . According to the pseudo-history Lebor Gabála 'Book of Invasions', the sacred oak of early Ireland was that of Mugna, probably located at or near Dunmanogoe, south Co. Kildare. Sacred associations of oaks survived Christianization, so that St Brigit 's monastic foundation

520-414: A burning forge only the 'withered wood' of yew, which will not burn. The Old Irish words for yew are ibar ; Modern Irish, iúr ; Scots Gaelic, iubhar ; Manx, euar ; Welsh, ywen ; Cornish, ewen ; Breton, ivinenn . Quercus robur Quercus robur , the pedunculate oak or English oak , is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae . It

624-692: A circumference of 10.86 m (35.6 ft) (in 2018) and the Kaive Oak in Latvia with a circumference of 10.2 m (33 ft) are among the thickest trees in Northern Europe . The largest historical oak was known as the Imperial Oak from Bosnia and Herzegovina. This specimen was recorded at 17.5 m in circumference at breast height and estimated at over 150 m³ in total volume. It collapsed in 1998. Two individuals of notable longevity are

728-771: A circumference of 4 m (13 ft) and more is in Latvia. In Ireland, at Birr Castle , a specimen over 400 years old has a girth of 6.5 m (21 ft), known as the Carroll Oak. In the Basque Country (Spain and France), the ' tree of Gernika ' is an ancient oak tree located in Gernika , under which the Lehendakari (Basque prime minister) swears his oath of office. The largest example in Australia

832-486: A fallen oak. In Germany, the oak tree can be found in several paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and in "Of the life of a Good-For-Nothing" written by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff as a symbol of the state protecting every citizen. In Serbia the oak is a national symbol, having been part of the historical coat of arms of the Socialist Republic of Serbia , the historical coat of arms and flags of

936-442: A few species of salmon remain in fresh water throughout their life cycle, the majority are anadromous and migrate to the ocean for maturation: in these species, smolts spend a portion of their out-migration time in brackish water, where their body chemistry becomes accustomed to osmoregulation in the ocean. This body chemistry change is hormone-driven, causing physiological adjustments in the function of osmoregulatory organs such as

1040-477: A fish returns after just one year's sea feeding, it is called a grilse in Canada, Britain, and Ireland. Grilse may be present at spawning, and go unnoticed by large males, releasing their own sperm on the eggs. Prior to spawning, depending on the species , salmon undergo changes. They may grow a hump, develop canine-like teeth, or develop a kype (a pronounced curvature of the jaws in male salmon). All change from

1144-569: A high demand for wild forage fish . As a predator, salmon require large nutritional intakes of protein , and farmed salmon consume more fish than they generate as a final product. On a dry weight basis, 2–4 kg of wild-caught fish are needed to produce one kilogram of salmon. As the salmon farming industry expands, it requires more forage fish for feed, at a time when 75% of the world's monitored fisheries are already near to or have exceeded their maximum sustainable yield . The industrial-scale extraction of wild forage fish for salmon farming affects

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1248-548: A lot of work on Henneguya salminicola was done by scientists at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo in the mid-1980s, in particular, an overview report which states, "the fish that have the longest fresh water residence time as juveniles have the most noticeable infections. Hence in order of prevalence , coho are most infected followed by sockeye, chinook, chum and pink. As well, the report says, at

1352-519: A magic oak tree. In British fairy lore, the oak is one of three primary magical woods, along with ash and thorn . In Proto-Celtic the words for "oak" were * * daru and * * derwā ; Old Irish and Modern Irish, dair ; Scottish Gaelic, darach ; Manx, daragh ; Welsh, derwen, dâr ; Cornish derowen ; Breton, dervenn . The ash tree also features strongly in Irish mythology. The mountain ash, rowan , or quicken tree

1456-654: A means to immortality. Wands of druids were made from wood either of the yew or of the apple. The Brythonic Avalon in Arthurian tradition in certain medieval narratives, attributing Welsh origin, is translated as Insula Pomorum ; 'The Isle of Apples'. One gloss of the name for the magical Irish island Emain Ablach is 'Emain of the Apples'. In the Ulster Cycle the soul of Cú Roí was confined in an apple that lay in

1560-592: A pleasant hazel wood. In the ogham alphabet of early Ireland, the letter C was represented by hazel [OIr. coll]. According to Robert Graves, it also represented the ninth month on the Old Irish calendar, 6 August to 2 September. Initiate members of the Fianna had to defend themselves armed only with a hazel stick and a shield; yet in the Fenian legends the hazel without leaves was thought evil, dripping poisonous milk, and

1664-640: A rejected lover. Even more esteemed than the hazel's wood were its nuts, often described as the 'nuts of wisdom', e.g. esoteric or occult knowledge. Hazels of wisdom grew at the heads of the seven chief rivers of Ireland, and nine grew over both Connla's Well and the Well of Segais , the legendary common source of the Boyne and the Shannon . The nuts would fall into the water, causing bubbles of mystic inspiration to form, or were eaten by salmon . The number of spots on

1768-544: A salmon's back were thought to indicate the number of nuts it had consumed. The salmon of wisdom caught by Fionn mac Cumhaill had eaten hazel nuts. Very similar tales related by Taliesin are retained in the Brythonic tradition. Traces of hazelnuts have been found in a 'Celtic' style three-chained suspension bowl discovered in a post-Roman burial dated to 650 CE in London. The name of the Irish hero Mac Cuill means 'son of

1872-501: A short (typically 2–3 millimetres or 1 ⁄ 16 – 1 ⁄ 8 inch) petiole . They have a cordate (auricled) base and 3–6 rounded lobes, divided no further than halfway to the midrib. The leaves are usually glabrous or have just a few simple hairs on the lower surface. They are dark green above, paler below, and are often covered in small disks of spangle gall by autumn. Flowering takes place in spring (early May in England). It

1976-439: A single stout trunk that can be as much as 11 m (36 ft) in girth (circumference at breast height) or even 14 m (46 ft) in pollarded specimens. Older trees tend to be pollarded, with boles (the main trunk) 2–3 m ( 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 –10 ft) long. These live longer and become more stout than unpollarded trees. The crown is spreading and unevenly domed, and trees often have massive lower branches. The bark

2080-412: A technically demanding kind of sport fishing , not necessarily intuitive for beginning fishermen. A conflict exists between commercial fishermen and recreational fishermen for the right to salmon stock resources . Commercial fishing in estuaries and coastal areas is often restricted so enough salmon can return to their natal rivers where they can spawn and be available for sport fishing. On parts of

2184-404: A valuable food resource for several small mammals and some birds, notably Eurasian jays Garrulus glandarius . Jays were overwhelmingly the primary propagators of oaks before humans began planting them commercially (and remain the principal propagators for wild oaks), because of their habit of taking acorns from the umbra of its parent tree and burying them undamaged elsewhere. Quercus robur

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2288-650: Is 1.5–4 cm long, ovoid with a pointed tip, starting whitish-green and becoming brown, then black. As with all oaks, the acorns are carried in a shallow cup which can be distinctive in identifying the species. It is an "alternate bearing" species, its large crops produced every other year. Grandinin / roburin E , castalagin / vescalagin , gallic acid , monogalloyl glucose ( glucogallin ) and valoneic acid dilactone , monogalloyl glucose, digalloyl glucose , trigalloyl glucose , rhamnose , quercitrin and ellagic acid are phenolic compounds found in Q. robur . The heartwood contains triterpene saponins . Q. robur

2392-410: Is a large tree, native to most of Europe and western Asia , and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It grows on soils of near neutral acidity in the lowlands and is notable for its value to natural ecosystems, supporting a very wide diversity of herbivorous insects and other pests, predators and pathogens. Quercus robur is a deciduous tree up to 40 metres (130 ft) tall, with

2496-858: Is a major contributor to the world production of farmed finfish, representing about US$ 10 billion annually. Other commonly cultured fish species include tilapia , catfish , sea bass , carp and bream . Salmon farming is significant in Chile , Norway , Scotland , Canada and the Faroe Islands ; it is the source for most salmon consumed in the United States and Europe. Atlantic salmon are also, in very small volumes, farmed in Russia and Tasmania , Australia. Salmon are carnivorous , and need to be fed meals produced from catching other wild forage fish and other marine organisms. Salmon farming leads to

2600-453: Is called "chêne pédonculé". The genome of Q. robur has been completely sequenced (GenOak project); the first version was published in 2016. It comprises 12 chromosome pairs (2n = 24), about 26,000 genes and 750 million bp . There are many synonyms, and numerous varieties and subspecies have been named. The populations in Iberia, Italy, southeast Europe, and Asia Minor and

2704-448: Is called tramman, it is commonly thought of as the 'fairy tree'. In Ireland many individual elder trees were thought haunted by fairies or demons. Old Irish is tromm ; Modern Irish is trom ; Scots Gaelic, troman, droman ; Welsh, ysgawen ; Cornish, scawen ; Breton, skavenn . The evergreen yew with dark green, poisonous, needle-like leaves and red berries has commonly symbolized death in classical antiquity. It

2808-536: Is greyish-brown and closely grooved, with vertical plates. There are often large burrs on the trunk, which typically produce many small shoots. Oaks do not produce suckers but do recover well from pruning or lightning damage. The twigs are hairless and the buds are rounded (ovoid), brownish and pointed. The leaves are arranged alternately along the twigs and are broadly oblong or ovate, 10–12 centimetres (4– 4 + 1 ⁄ 2  in) long by 7–8 cm ( 2 + 3 ⁄ 4 – 3 + 1 ⁄ 4  in) wide, with

2912-590: Is in Donnybrook , Western Australia . Salmon all other members of Salmoninae Salmon ( / ˈ s æ m ən / ; pl. : salmon) is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera Salmo and Oncorhynchus of the family Salmonidae , native to tributaries of the North Atlantic ( Salmo ) and North Pacific ( Oncorhynchus ) basins. Other closely related fish in

3016-460: Is most likely to be confused with sessile oak , which shares much of its range. Distinguishing features of Q. robur include the auricles at the leaf base, the very short petiole, its clusters of acorns being borne on a long peduncle, and the lack of stellate hairs on the underside of the leaf. The two often hybridise in the wild, forming Quercus × rosacea . Turkey oak is also sometimes confused with it, but that species has "whiskers" on

3120-515: Is particularly prominent in Scottish folklore. There are several recorded instances in Irish history in which people refused to cut an ash, even when wood was scarce, for fear of having their own cabins consumed with flame. The ash tree itself might be used in May Day ( Beltaine ) rites. Under the Old Irish word nin, the ash also gives its name to the letter N in the ogham alphabet. Together with

3224-560: Is planted for forestry , and produces a long-lasting and durable heartwood , much in demand for interior and furniture work. The wood of Q. robur is identified by a close examination of a cross-section perpendicular to fibres. The wood is characterised by its distinct (often wide) dark and light brown growth rings. The earlywood displays a vast number of large vessels (around 0.5 mm or 1 ⁄ 64 inch in diameter). There are rays of thin (about 0.1 mm or 1 ⁄ 256  in) yellow or light brown lines running across

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3328-441: Is quite high (perhaps as high as 40 to 50%). To lay her roe , the female salmon uses her tail (caudal fin), to create a low-pressure zone, lifting gravel to be swept downstream, excavating a shallow depression, called a redd. The redd may sometimes contain 5,000 eggs covering 2.8 m (30 sq ft). The eggs usually range from orange to red. One or more males approach the female in her redd, depositing sperm, or milt, over

3432-565: Is rare on thin, well-drained calcareous (chalk and limestone) soil. Sometimes it is found on the margins of swamps, rivers and ponds, showing that it is fairly tolerant of intermittent flooding. Its Ellenberg values in Britain are L = 7, F = 5, R = 5, N = 4, and S = 0. Within its native range, Q. robur is valued for its importance to insects and other wildlife, supporting the highest biodiversity of insect herbivores of any British plant (at least 400 species). The most well-known of these are

3536-733: Is still commonly planted in Christian churchyards and cemeteries. One of Conchobar mac Nessa 's residences at Emain Macha , Cráebruad , has nine rooms lined with red yew. The agnomen of Cáer , the swan maiden, is Ibormeith [yew berry]. Fergus , the hapless brother of Niall Noígiallach (of the Nine Hostages) in Echtra Mac nEchach Muigmedóin (The Adventure of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedón), signals his sterility when he rescues from

3640-966: Is strictly a fish parasite that cannot live in or affect warm blooded animals, including man". According to Klaus Schallie, Molluscan Shellfish Program Specialist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency , " Henneguya salminicola is found in southern B.C. also and in all species of salmon. I have previously examined smoked chum salmon sides that were riddled with cysts and some sockeye runs in Barkley Sound (southern B.C., west coast of Vancouver Island ) are noted for their high incidence of infestation." Sea lice , particularly Lepeophtheirus salmonis and various Caligus species, including C. clemensi and C. rogercresseyi , can cause deadly infestations of both farm-grown and wild salmon. Sea lice are ectoparasites which feed on mucus, blood, and skin, and migrate and latch onto

3744-480: Is under development in Alaska . There, the young salmon are released into the ocean far from any wild salmon streams. When it is time for them to spawn, they return to where they were released, where fishermen can catch them. An alternative method to hatcheries is to use spawning channels. These are artificial streams , usually parallel to an existing stream, with concrete or rip-rap sides and gravel bottoms. Water from

3848-427: Is wind-pollinated. The male flowers occur in narrow catkins some 2–4 cm ( 3 ⁄ 4 – 1 + 1 ⁄ 2  in) long and arranged in small bunches; the female flowers are small, brown with dark red stigmas, about 2 mm in diameter and are found at the tips of new shoots on peduncles 2–5 cm long. The fruits (acorns) are borne in clusters of 2–3 on a long peduncle (stalk) 4–8 cm long. Each acorn

3952-790: The Atlantic salmon , found in both sides of the North Atlantic , as well as more than 40 other species commonly named as trout . The genus Oncorhynchus contains 12 recognised species which occur naturally only in the North Pacific, six of which are known as Pacific salmon while the remainder are considered trout. Outside their native habitats, Chinook salmon have been successfully introduced in New Zealand and Patagonia , while coho , sockeye and Atlantic salmon have been established in Patagonia, as well.     Both

4056-624: The Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association , as a way to increase salmon populations in situations where they have declined due to overharvesting , construction of dams and habitat destruction or fragmentation . Negative consequences to this sort of population manipulation include genetic "dilution" of the wild stocks. Many jurisdictions are now beginning to discourage supplemental fish planting in favour of harvest controls, and habitat improvement and protection. A variant method of fish stocking , called ocean ranching,

4160-566: The Great Lakes of North America , Patagonia in South America and South Island of New Zealand . The Modern English term salmon is derived from Middle English : samoun , samon and saumon , which in turn are from Anglo-Norman : saumon , from Old French : saumon , and from Latin : salmō (which in turn might have originated from salire , meaning "to leap". ). The unpronounced "l" absent from Middle English

4264-489: The Japanese word for trout. On the other hand, the steelhead and sea trout , the anadromous forms of rainbow trout and brown trout respectively, are from the same genera as salmon and live identical migratory lives, but neither is termed "salmon" . The extinct Eosalmo driftwoodensis , the oldest known Salmoninae fish in the fossil record , helps scientists figure how the different species of salmon diverged from

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4368-794: The Milky Way . The oak tree also had a symbolic value in France. Some oaks were considered sacred by the Gauls ; druids would cut down the mistletoe growing on them . Even after Christianization , oak trees were considered to protect as lightning would strike them rather than on nearby inhabitation. Such struck trees would often be turned into places of worship, like the Chêne chapelle . In 1746, all oak trees in Finland were legally classified as royal property, and oaks had enjoyed legal protection already from

4472-526: The Pacific Northwest and Alaska , salmon are keystone species . The migration of salmon represent a massive retrograde nutrient transfer, rich in nitrogen , sulfur , carbon and phosphorus , from the ocean to the inland freshwater ecosystems . Predation by piscivorous land animals (such as ospreys , bears and otters ) along the journey serve to transfer the nutrients from the water to land, and decomposition of salmon carcass benefits

4576-461: The Pacific coast of Canada , the louse-induced mortality of pink salmon in some regions is commonly over 80%. The risk of injury caused by underwater pile driving has been studied by Dr. Halvorsen and her co-workers. The study concluded that the fish are at risk of injury if the cumulative sound exposure level exceeds 210 dB relative to 1 μPa s. As can be seen from the production chart at

4680-591: The Principality of Serbia , as well as the current traditional coat of arms and flag of Vojvodina . In England, the oak has assumed the status of a national emblem. This has its origins in the oak tree at Boscobel House , where the future King Charles II hid from his Parliamentarian pursuers in 1650 during the English Civil War ; the tree has since been known as the Royal Oak . This event

4784-514: The Quaternary glaciation began the cycle of glacial advance and retreat. There are several other species of fish which are colloquially called "salmon" but are not true salmon. Of those listed below, the Danube salmon or huchen is a large freshwater salmonid closely related (from the same subfamily) to the seven species of salmon above, but others are fishes of unrelated orders , given

4888-701: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , who found that there were 115 oaks (of both species) in England with a circumference of 9 m or more, compared with just 96 in Europe. This is attributed to the persistence of mediaeval deer parks in the landscape. The Majesty Oak, with a circumference of 12.2 m (40 ft), is the thickest such tree in Great Britain . The Brureika ( Bridal Oak ) in Norway with

4992-672: The Salmo and Oncorhynchus genera also contain a number of trout species informally referred to as salmon. Within Salmo , the Adriatic salmon ( Salmo obtusirostris ) and Black Sea salmon ( Salmo labrax ) have both been named as salmon in English , although they fall outside the generally recognized seven salmon species. The masu salmon ( Oncorhynchus masou ) is actually considered a trout ("cherry trout") in Japan , with masu actually being

5096-798: The Stelmužė Oak in Lithuania and the Granit Oak in Bulgaria , which are believed to be more than 1500 years old, possibly making them the oldest oaks in Europe; another specimen, called the ' Kongeegen ' ('Kings Oak'), estimated to be about 1,200 years old, grows in Jaegerspris , Denmark . Yet another can be found in Kvilleken , Sweden , that is over 1000 years old and 14 m (46 ft) around. Of maiden (not pollarded) specimens, one of

5200-497: The forest ecosystem . In the case of Pacific salmon , most (if not all) of the salmon that survive to reach the headwater spawning grounds will die after laying eggs and their dead bodies sink to cover the gravel beds, with the nutrients released from the biodegradation of their corpses providing a significant boost to these otherwise biomass -poor shallow streams. Grizzly bears function as ecosystem engineers , capturing salmon and carrying them into adjacent dry land to eat

5304-524: The myrtle zone . These dams can be overtopped at high tide and hold water at low tide. This provides refuges for juvenile salmon so they do not have to swim into large channels where they are subject to predation by larger fish. It has been discovered that rivers which have seen a decline or disappearance of anadromous lampreys , loss of the lampreys also affects the salmon in a negative way. Like salmon, anadromous lampreys stop feeding and die after spawning, and their decomposing bodies release nutrients into

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5408-655: The oak and thorn, the ash is part of a magical trilogy in fairy lore. Ash seedpods may be used in divination , and the wood has the power to ward off fairies, especially on the Isle of Man. In Gaelic Scotland children were given the astringent sap of the tree as a medicine and as a protection against witch-craft. Some famous ash trees were the Tree of Uisnech , the Bough of Dathí , and the Tree of Tortu . The French poet who used Breton sources, Marie de France (late 12th century), wrote

5512-473: The ocean as adults and live like sea fish , then return to their freshwater birthplace to reproduce . However, populations of several species are restricted to fresh waters (i.e. landlocked) throughout their lives. Folklore has it that the fish return to the exact stream where they themselves hatched to spawn , and tracking studies have shown this to be mostly true. A portion of a returning salmon run may stray and spawn in different freshwater systems;

5616-590: The otolith (annuli), analogous to the growth rings visible in a tree trunk. Freshwater growth shows as densely crowded rings, sea growth as widely spaced rings; spawning is marked by significant erosion as body mass is converted into eggs and milt. Freshwater streams and estuaries provide important habitat for many salmon species. They feed on terrestrial and aquatic insects , amphipods , and other crustaceans while young, and primarily on other fish when older. Eggs are laid in deeper water with larger gravel and need cool water and good water flow (to supply oxygen) to

5720-584: The 17th century. The oak is also the regional tree of the Southwest Finland region. During the French Revolution , oaks were often planted as trees of freedom . One such tree, planted during the 1848 Revolution , survived the destruction of Oradour-sur-Glane by the Nazis . After the announcement of General Charles de Gaulle 's death, caricaturist Jacques Faizant represented him as

5824-490: The Caucasus are sometimes treated as separate species, Q. orocantabrica, Q. brutia Tenore, Q. pedunculiflora K. Koch and Q. haas Kotschy respectively. Quercus × rosacea Bechst. ( Q. petraea x Q. robur ) is the only naturally-occurring hybrid, but the following crosses with other white oak species have been produced in cultivation: There are numerous cultivars available, among which

5928-470: The Croatian 5 lipa coin; on old German Deutsche Mark currency (1 through 10 Pfennigs; the 50 Pfennigs coin showed a woman planting an oak seedling), and now on German-issued euro currency coins (1 through 5 cents); and on British pound coins (1987 and 1992 issues). It is often claimed that England has more ancient oaks than the rest of Europe combined. This is based on research by Aljos Farjon at

6032-479: The North American West Coast salmon sport fishing has completely replaced inshore commercial salmon fishing. In most cases, the commercial value of a salmon sold as seafood can be several times less than the value attributed to the same fish caught by a sport fisherman. This is "a powerful economic argument for allocating stock resources preferentially to sport fishing". Salmon aquaculture

6136-570: The Pacific Ocean, the second host releases a stage infective to salmon. The parasite is then carried in the salmon until the next spawning cycle. The myxosporean parasite that causes whirling disease in trout has a similar life cycle. However, as opposed to whirling disease, the Henneguya infestation does not appear to cause disease in the host salmon—even heavily infected fish tend to return to spawn successfully. According to Dr. Kieser,

6240-487: The Trees', Gwydion guessed Bran's name from the alder twigs in his hand. The answer to an old Taliesin riddle 'Why is the alder purple?' is 'Because Bran wore purple'. Bran's alder may be a symbol of resurrection. The name for the boy Gwern , son of Matholwch and Branwen , means 'alder'. The place-name Fernmag (ang. Farney) means 'plain of the alder'. In Ireland the alder was regarded with awe apparently because when cut

6344-432: The adjacent stream is piped into the top of the channel, sometimes via a header pond, to settle out sediment. Spawning success is often much better in channels than in adjacent streams due to the control of floods, which in some years can wash out the natural redds. Because of the lack of floods, spawning channels must sometimes be cleaned out to remove accumulated sediment. The same floods that destroy natural redds also clean

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6448-560: The age of the tree, with blue tits and great tits timing their egg hatching to the leaves opening. The most common caterpillar species include the winter moth , the green tortrix and the mottled umber , all of which can become extremely abundant on the first flush of leaves in May, but the oak trees do recover their foliage later in the year. The acorns are typically produced in large quantities every other year (unlike Q. petraea , which produces large crops only every 4-10 years) and form

6552-608: The common name "salmon" simply due to similar shapes, behaviors and niches occupied: Salmon eggs are laid in freshwater streams typically at high latitudes. The eggs hatch into alevin or sac fry. The fry quickly develop into parr with camouflaging vertical stripes. The parr stay for six months to three years in their natal stream before becoming smolts, which are distinguished by their bright, silvery colour with scales that are easily rubbed off. Only 10% of all salmon eggs are estimated to survive to this stage. The smolt body chemistry changes, allowing them to live in salt water. While

6656-430: The developing embryos. Mortality of salmon in the early life stages is usually high due to natural predation and human-induced changes in habitat, such as siltation, high water temperatures, low oxygen concentration, loss of stream cover, and reductions in river flow. Estuaries and their associated wetlands provide vital nursery areas for the salmon prior to their departure to the open ocean. Wetlands not only help buffer

6760-472: The elimination of beavers from large parts of the river system, salmon runs plummeted, even in the absence of many of the factors usually associated with the demise of salmon runs. Salmon recruitment can be affected by beavers' dams because dams can: Beaver dams are able to nurture salmon juveniles in estuarine tidal marshes where the salinity is less than 10 ppm. Beavers build small dams of generally less than 60 cm (2 ft) high in channels in

6864-821: The estuary from silt and pollutants, but also provide important feeding and hiding areas. Salmon not killed by other means show greatly accelerated deterioration ( phenoptosis , or "programmed aging") at the end of their lives. Their bodies rapidly deteriorate right after they spawn as a result of the release of massive amounts of corticosteroids . Salmon are mid- level carnivores whose diet change according to their life stage. Salmon fry predominantly feed upon zooplanktons until they reach fingerling sizes, when they start to consume more aquatic invertebrates such as insect larvae , micro crustaceans and worms . As juveniles (parrs), they become more predatory and actively prey upon aquatic insects , small crustaceans, tadpoles and small bait fishes . They are also known to breach

6968-443: The fish. There they deposit nutrient-rich urine and feces and partially eaten carcasses. Bears preparing for hibernation tend to preferentially consume the more nutrient- and energy -rich salmon roes and brain over the actual flesh , and are estimated to discard up to half the salmon they've harvested uneaten on the forest floor, in densities that can reach 4,000 kg (8,800 lb) per hectare, providing as much as 24% of

7072-419: The following are commonly grown: The species is native to most of Europe and western Asia , and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It is a long-lived tree of high-canopy woodland, coppice and wood pasture, and it is commonly planted in hedges. When compared to sessile oak, it is more abundant in the lowlands of the south and east of Britain, and it occurs on more neutral (less acid) soils. It

7176-566: The gills, which leads to large increases in their ability to secrete salt. Hormones involved in increasing salinity tolerance include insulin-like growth factor I , cortisol , and thyroid hormones , which permits the fish to endure the transition from a freshwater environment to the ocean. The salmon spend about one to five years (depending on the species) in the open ocean, where they gradually become sexually mature. The adult salmon then return primarily to their natal streams to spawn. Atlantic salmon spend between one and four years at sea. When

7280-510: The growth rings. The timber is around 720 kilograms (1,590 pounds) per cubic meter in density. In the Scandinavian countries, oaks were considered the " thunderstorm trees", representing Thor , the god of thunder. A Finnish myth is that the World tree , a great oak which grew to block the movement of the sky, sunlight and moonlight, had to be felled, releasing its magic, thus creating

7384-561: The hazel'. W. B. Yeats thought the hazel was the common Irish form of the tree of life . Proto-Celtic was * * collos ; Old Irish and Modern Irish coll ; Scots Gaelic, calltunn , calltuinn ; Manx, coull ; Welsh, collen ; Cornish, collwedhen ; Breton, kraoñklevezenn . The alder , a shrub or tree of the birch family has special implications in Celtic tradition. The alder usually grows in wet ground, with small, pendulous catkins. Alders are especially associated with Bran ; at Cad Goddeu , 'The Battle of

7488-420: The home of vultures. Thought a fairy tree in both Ireland and Wales, wood from the hazel was sacred to poets and was thus a taboo fuel on any hearth. Heralds carried hazel wands as badges of office. Witches' wands are often made of hazel, as are divining rods, used to find underground water. In Cornwall the hazel was used in the millpreve , the magical adder stones . In Wales a twig of hazel would be given to

7592-684: The left, the global capture reported by different countries to the FAO of commercial wild salmon has remained fairly steady since 1990 at about one million tonnes per year. This is in contrast to farmed salmon (below) which has increased in the same period from about 0.6 million tonnes to well over two million tonnes. Nearly all captured wild salmon are Pacific salmon . The capture of wild Atlantic salmon has always been relatively small, and has declined steadily since 1990. In 2011 only 2,500 tonnes were reported. In contrast, about half of all farmed salmon are Atlantic salmon. Recreational salmon fishing can be

7696-458: The longer the fish remain in fresh water, and they then deteriorate further after they spawn, when they are known as kelts. In all species of Pacific salmon, the mature individuals die within a few days or weeks of spawning, a trait known as semelparity . Between 2 and 4% of Atlantic salmon kelts survive to spawn again, all females. However, even in those species of salmon that may survive to spawn more than once ( iteroparity ), postspawning mortality

7800-711: The name of eight major Royal Navy warships. The naval associations are strengthened by the fact that oak was the main construction material for sailing warships. The Royal Navy was often described as "The Wooden Walls of Old England" (a paraphrase of the Delphic Oracle ) and the Navy's official quick march is " Heart of Oak ". In folklore, the Major Oak is where Robin Hood is purported to have taken shelter. Oak leaves (not necessarily of this species) have been depicted on

7904-633: The oldest is the great oak of Ivenack , Germany . Tree-ring research of this tree and other oaks nearby gives an estimated age of 700 to 800 years. Also the Bowthorpe Oak in Lincolnshire , England is estimated to be 1,000 years old, making it the oldest in the UK, although there is Knightwood Oak in the New Forest that is also said to be as old. The highest density of Q. robur with

8008-462: The ones that form galls, which number about 35. In Britain, the knopper gall is very common, and Andricus grossulariae produces somewhat similar spiky galls on the acorn cups. Also common in Britain are two types of spherical galls on the twigs: the oak marble gall and the cola nut gall . The latter are smaller and rougher than the former. A single, large exit hole indicates that the wasp inside has escaped, whereas several smaller holes show that it

8112-446: The parasitic infection into a number of cysts that contain milky fluid. This fluid is an accumulation of a large number of parasites. Henneguya and other parasites in the myxosporean group have complex life cycles, where the salmon is one of two hosts. The fish releases the spores after spawning. In the Henneguya case, the spores enter a second host, most likely an invertebrate, in the spawning stream. When juvenile salmon migrate to

8216-525: The percent of straying depends on the species of salmon. Homing behavior has been shown to depend on olfactory memory . Salmon are important food fish and are intensively farmed in many parts of the world, with Norway being the world's largest producer of farmed salmon, followed by Chile . They are also highly prized game fish for recreational fishing , by both freshwater and saltwater anglers . Many species of salmon have since been introduced and naturalized into non-native environments such as

8320-526: The preferred prey of seals and sea lions, which can eat 30 lampreys to every salmon, allowing more adult salmon to enter the rivers to spawn without being eaten by the marine mammals. According to Canadian biologist Dorothy Kieser, the myxozoan parasite Henneguya salminicola is commonly found in the flesh of salmonids. It has been recorded in the field samples of salmon returning to the Haida Gwaii Islands . The fish responds by walling off

8424-408: The problems of rising costs for buying hatchery fish feed . Yet another attractive alternative is the increased use of seaweed . Seaweed provides essential minerals and vitamins for growing organisms. It offers the advantage of providing natural amounts of dietary fiber and having a lower glycemic load than grain-based fish meal . In the best-case scenario, widespread use of seaweed could yield

8528-466: The regular streams. Spawning channels preserve the natural selection of natural streams, as there is no benefit, as in hatcheries, to use prophylactic chemicals to control diseases. Farm-raised salmon are fed the carotenoids astaxanthin and canthaxanthin to match their flesh colour to wild salmon to improve their marketability. Wild salmon get these carotenoids , primarily astaxanthin, from eating shellfish and krill . One proposed alternative to

8632-407: The roe. The female then covers the eggs by disturbing the gravel at the upstream edge of the depression before moving on to make another redd. The female may make as many as seven redds before her supply of eggs is exhausted. Each year, the fish experiences a period of rapid growth, often in summer, and one of slower growth, normally in winter. This results in ring formation around an earbone called

8736-509: The salmon population. This system is referred to as ranching . It was very common in countries such as Sweden, before the Norwegians developed salmon farming, but is seldom done by private companies. As anyone may catch the salmon when they return to spawn, a company is limited in benefiting financially from their investment. Because of this, the ranching method has mainly been used by various public authorities and non-profit groups, such as

8840-481: The same family include trout , char , grayling , whitefish , lenok and taimen , all coldwater fish of the subarctic and cooler temperate regions with some sporadic endorheic populations in Central Asia . Salmon are typically anadromous : they hatch in the shallow gravel beds of freshwater headstreams and spend their juvenile years in rivers , lakes and freshwater wetlands , migrate to

8944-421: The silvery blue of a fresh-run fish from the sea to a darker colour. Salmon can make amazing journeys, sometimes moving hundreds of miles upstream against strong currents and rapids to reproduce. Chinook and sockeye salmon from central Idaho, for example, travel over 1,400 km (900 mi) and climb nearly 2,100 m (7,000 ft) from the Pacific Ocean as they return to spawn. Condition tends to deteriorate

9048-546: The skin of wild salmon during free-swimming, planktonic nauplii and copepodid larval stages, which can persist for several days. Large numbers of highly populated, open-net salmon farms can create exceptionally large concentrations of sea lice; when exposed in river estuaries containing large numbers of open-net farms, many young wild salmon are infected, and do not survive as a result. Adult salmon may survive otherwise critical numbers of sea lice, but small, thin-skinned juvenile salmon migrating to sea are highly vulnerable. On

9152-430: The stomach of a salmon which appeared once every seven years. Cúchulainn once gained his escape by following the path of a rolled apple. An apple-tree grew from the grave of the tragic lover Ailinn . In the Irish tale Echtra Condla (The Adventure of Conle), Conle the son of Conn is fed an apple by a fairy lover , which sustains him with food and drink for a month without diminishing; but it also makes him long for

9256-458: The stream. Also, along with species like rainbow trout and Sacramento sucker , lampreys clean the gravel in the rivers during spawning. Their larvae, called ammocoetes, are filter feeders which contribute to the health of the waters. They are also a food source for the young salmon, and being fattier and oilier, it is assumed predators prefer them over salmon offspring, taking off some of the predation pressure on smolts. Adult lampreys are also

9360-534: The survivability of other wild predatory fish which rely on them for food. Research is ongoing into sustainable and plant-based salmon feeds. Intensive salmon farming uses open-net cages, which have low production costs. It has the drawback of allowing disease and sea lice to spread to local wild salmon stocks. Another form of salmon production, which is safer but less controllable, is to raise salmon in hatcheries until they are old enough to become independent. They are released into rivers in an attempt to increase

9464-496: The time the studies were conducted, stocks from the middle and upper reaches of large river systems in British Columbia such as Fraser , Skeena , Nass and from mainland coastal streams in the southern half of B.C., "are more likely to have a low prevalence of infection." The report also states, "It should be stressed that Henneguya , economically deleterious though it is, is harmless from the view of public health . It

9568-467: The total nitrogen available to the riparian woodlands . The foliage of spruce trees up to 500 m (1,600 ft) from a stream where grizzlies fish salmon have been found to contain nitrogen originating from the fished salmon. Beavers also function as ecosystem engineers; in the process of tree-cutting and damming , beavers alter the local ecosystems extensively. Beaver ponds can provide critical habitat for juvenile salmon . An example of this

9672-597: The use of wild-caught fish as feed for the salmon, is the use of soy -based products. This should be better for the local environment of the fish farm, but producing soy beans has a high environmental cost for the producing region. The fish omega-3 fatty acid content would be reduced compared to fish-fed salmon. Another possible alternative is a yeast-based coproduct of bioethanol production, proteinaceous fermentation biomass. Substituting such products for engineered feed can result in equal (sometimes enhanced) growth in fish. With its increasing availability, this would address

9776-417: The water to attack terrestrial insects such as grasshoppers and dragonflies , as well as consuming fish eggs (even those of other salmon). As adults, salmon behave like other mid-sized pelagic fish , eating a variety of sea creatures including smaller forage fish such as lanternfish , herrings , sand lances , mackerels and barracudina . They also eat krill , squid and polychaete worms . In

9880-631: The winter buds and deeper lobes on the leaves (often more than halfway to the midrib). The acorn cups are also very different. Quercus robur (from the Latin quercus , "oak" + robur derived from a word meaning robust, strong) was named by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum (1753). It is the type species of the genus and classified in the white oak section ( Quercus section Quercus ). It has numerous common names, including "common oak", "European oak" and "English oak". In French it

9984-690: The woman and the beautiful country of women to which his lover is enticing him. In the Irish story from the Mythological Cycle , Oidheadh Chlainne Tuireann , the first task given the Children of Tuireann is to retrieve the Apples of the Hesperides (or Hisbernia). Afallennau (Welsh, 'apple trees') is a 12th-century Welsh narrative poem dealing with Myrddin Wyllt . The Breton pseudosaint Konorin

10088-400: The wood turns from white to red. At one time the felling of an alder was punishable, and it is still avoided. The alder was thought to have power of divination, especially in the diagnosing of diseases. Alder might be used in the fé , a rod for measuring corpses and graves in pre-Christian Ireland. The letter F, third consonant in the ogham alphabet, was named after the alder. The Proto-Celtic

10192-439: Was * * wernā ; Old Irish fern ; Modern Irish is fearnóg ; Scots Gaelic, feàrna ; Manx, farney ; Welsh, gwernen ; Cornish, gwernen ; Breton, gwernenn . The elder , having clusters of white flowers and red or blackish berry-like fruit, has many associations with the fairy world in oral traditions of recent centuries in Celtic countries. On the Isle of Man, where elder grows abundantly and

10296-416: Was at Cill Dara, 'church of (the) oak', i.e. Kildare, and St Colum Cille favoured Doire Calgaich 'Calgach's oak grove', i.e. Derry ; see also Durrow , darú, from dair magh, 'oak plain'. In Welsh tradition Gwydion and Math use the flower of oak with broom to fashion the beautiful Blodeuwedd . When Lleu Llaw Gyffes is about to be killed by Gronw Pebyr , his wife's lover, he escapes in eagle form onto

10400-459: Was celebrated nationally on 29 May as Oak Apple Day , which continues to this day in some communities. Many place names in England include a reference to this tree, including Oakley, Occold and Eyke. Copdock, in Suffolk , probably derives from a pollarded oak ("copped oak"). 'The Royal Oak' is the third most popular pub name in Britain (with 541 counted in 2007) and HMS Royal Oak has been

10504-435: Was later added as a Latinisation to make the word closer to its Latin root. The term salmon has mostly displaced its now dialectal synonym lax , in turn from Middle English : lax , from Old English : leax , from Proto-Germanic : * lahsaz from Proto-Indo-European : *lakso- . The seven commercially important species of salmon occur in two genera of the subfamily Salmoninae . The genus Salmo contains

10608-447: Was parasitised by another insect, and these emerged instead. The undersides of oak leaves are often covered in spangle galls , which persist after the leaves fall. One of the most distinctive galls is the oak apple , a 4.5 cm diameter spongy ball created from the buds by the wasp Biorhiza pallida . The pineapple gall , while less common, is also easily recognised. The quantity of caterpillar species on an oak tree increases with

10712-552: Was reborn by means of an apple. The Proto-Celtic word was * * aballā ; Old Irish, uball , ubull ; Modern Irish, ubhal , úll ; Scots Gaelic ubhall ; Manx, ooyl ; Welsh, afal ; Corn. aval ; Bret. Aval . Both the wood and the edible nuts of the hazel have played important roles in Irish and Welsh traditions. Hazel leaves and nuts are found in early British burial mounds and shaft-wells, especially at Ashill, Norfolk . The place-name story for Fordruim, an early name for Tara, describes it as

10816-644: Was seen in the years following 1818 in the Columbia River Basin. In 1818, the British government made an agreement with the U.S. government to allow U.S. citizens access to the Columbia catchment (see Treaty of 1818 ). At the time, the Hudson's Bay Company sent word to trappers to extirpate all furbearers from the area in an effort to make the area less attractive to U.S. fur traders. In response to

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