She was not eaten by birds or big fish, nor was she poisoned by pollution or killed by low water. Yesenia survived a swim to the ocean where she grew big and fat, swam back to the stream where she was born and found a gravel bottom to lay her eggs.
Anadromous fish are unique in that they live in both fresh and salt water.
In a special session in honor of the upcoming Earth Day on April 22, pupils in several classrooms at Kelly learned about the life cycle of salmon from Chrissy Frederick, an Americorps member who works with Massachusetts Community Water Watch. The pupils participated in a game devised by Frederick in which they played salmon and re-enacted its life cycle. Pupils faced the obstacles salmon do, like disease, predators and environmental obstacles. They also eat other fish so they will grow and be ready to swim upstream to spawn. Salmon use their sense of smell to return to where they were born.