Salmo salar

We found this rather fine salmon on the beach this afternoon. From the looks of it, it had been attacked, escaped and then died. It pretty unusual to see this, especially a big fresh fish of this size, I would guess it was around 10 to 12 lbs.

So were working on this theory.
It was an escaped farmed fish, the tail was a bit stumpy and the fins were ragged, that got caught by an otter but managed to get free. There was a deep cut to the back of the neck and some damage to the 'face' but not the huge bite you would expect to see from a seal.

Interestingly although the eyes were gone, probably from seabirds, it was still quite fresh with no smell, so the 'incident' must have happened this morning.

It's never boring in The Highlands



******** edit 28th Sept. I just received an email from my fish farming chum
i quote;

'Way too thin for a farmed fish. We do not have "escapees"
Tut tut "G"'

That's me told off then! *************