Life cycle Of Salmon | Band 9 IELTS Report Sample

The diagrams below show the life cycle of a species of large fish called the salmon. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

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Band 9 IELTS report sample

The diagram illustrates the life cycle of salmons, a large species of fish. Overall, the salmon goes through four major stages in life. Adult salmons lay eggs on small stones and reeds in the upper river where the water is slow-moving. In about three to six months, the eggs hatch and baby salmons come out. They are only 3 to 8 centimetres long at this stage. From the upper river baby salmons or frys move to the fast moving lower river where they live for approximately 4 years. By this time, they have become smolts with a length of 12 to 15 cm and then they migrate to the open sea where they live for another 5 years. Finally, adult salmons which measure 70 to 76 centimetres in length return to the upper river where they were born and lay eggs to start the process all over again.

Band 8 report sample

The flowchart illustrates the different stages involved in the life cycle of a salmon. Overall, there are 3 distinct stages in the life cycle of a salmon starting with the egg stage and ending with the adult stage. As the diagram shows, the first stage in the salmon’s life cycle begins with the hatching of eggs. These salmon eggs are laid amongst the reeds and small stones in the upper river. It is notable that this part of the river is slow moving. In this stage, after a period of about 5 to 6 months, the baby fish that are born are called fry and are about 3 to 8 cm long. The fry soon swims to the lower river which is quite fast flowing.  In the second stage, after living in this lower river for a period of about 4 years, the fry gradually grows into a smolt when it measures about 12 to 15 cm in length. At this stage, it is ready to migrate into the open sea. Here, in the open sea, the smolt lives for roughly about 5 years where it eventually grows into the final adult stage. At this point of its life cycle, it is approximately 70 to 76 cm long. Finally, the adult fish swim back to the same location where they were born, the upper river, to lay their eggs. Having completed all the steps, the cycle starts all over again.