Posted @withrepost • @cristinamittermeier Nature is neither merciful, nor cruel, but some of her ebbs and floes in the incessant cycle of life are harder to understand than others. Of the millions of salmon that travel upstream on the many creeks, streams and rivers where this bountiful fish still runs wild, only a handful will make it to the spawning grounds. Along the way they are eaten by bears, eagles, wolves and even racoons; they die of exhaustion and many, having started the slow process of dying the minute they leave the saltiness of the sea and enter the freshwater kingdoms where they spawn, simply die. Soon after those who make it release eggs and sperm to give birth to a new generation, they too die. Inexorably, the dead fish travel back downstream, carried by the currents that pushed against them on their way upstream. At the mouth of the Adams River, a graveyard of salmon slowly forms, as more and more dead salmon are deposited there. Several meters deep, one by one the dead and dying fish, come to rest here, where their bodies will decompose, and the nutrients contained in them will be released back into the ecosystem, to give life to everything around them, including us. With @PaulNicklen for @SeaLegacy È un fenomeno naturale...☹️ #salmon #salmonlife https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx7yQ_2iLwl/?igshid=1cgvjyx4d635f
