IELTS Writing Task 1: The Life Cycle of the Salmon

The diagram below illustrates the life cycle of the salmon. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The cycle is continuous and has five main stages. It begins when adult salmon lay their eggs among the stones of a shallow freshwater river. After several weeks, the eggs hatch into tiny fish, still living in the river and sheltering among the rocks. As these young fish grow larger, they swim downstream and eventually reach the open sea, where they spend most of their adult lives feeding and growing to full size. When they are ready to reproduce, the mature salmon swim back up the same rivers in which they were born. There they lay a new set of eggs, and the cycle begins again.