Glossary: Section 7 Species Presence in the Greater Atlantic Region
Glossary of the terms used when describing ESA listed species.
Behaviors
- Foraging – active searching for food
- Spawning – releasing or depositing eggs/sperm
- Rearing – the act of caring for offspring until they are fully grown (e.g., marine mammals) or growing and developing in a relatively protective environment (e.g., fish)
- Overwintering – sheltering during the winter season
- Migration – seasonal movement of animals from one location to another
- Aggregation –grouping of animals
Life Stages
- Eggs – an oval or round object laid by a female fish containing a developing embryo
- Hatchlings1 (Alevin) – recently hatched fish that live off of a yolk sac attached to their body
- Larvae – a young fish which at birth or hatching is fundamentally unlike its parent and must pass through metamorphosis before assuming adult characteristics; Atlantic Sturgeon: less than 4 weeks old, with total lengths less than 30 mm
- Fry1 – a young salmon living in freshwater that is older than an alevin and younger than a parr or smolt
- Parr1 – a young salmonid (salmon or trout) with parr-marks (e.g., stripes) before migration to the sea and after dispersal from the redd2
- Smolt1 – a young salmonid which has developed silvery coloring on its sides, obscuring the parr marks, and which is about to migrate or has just migrated into the sea
- Young of year (YOY) – age-0 fish, or those animals born within the past year
- Juvenile
- A) fish –until fish enters adult population or reaches sexual maturity;
- For Atlantic sturgeon only: young fish that has not yet migrated out of its natal river (e.g., river it was born in)
- B) sea turtles – not at full size or strength; gender cannot yet be determined
- A) fish –until fish enters adult population or reaches sexual maturity;
- Sub-adult
- A) loggerhead – an individual that is approaching sexual maturity
- B) Atlantic sturgeon – an individual that has left its natal river and enters marine waters but is not yet sexually mature
- Adult – sexually mature and interacting with other adults
Acronyms
- DPS – Distinct Population Segment
- RKM – River Kilometer
- ELS – early life stage, can include larval and fry stages
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1 Apply to GOM DPS Atlantic Salmon only
2 Redd - depression, usually a pit or a trough in the stream gravel, dug in preparation for, or during, spawning