Life Cycle: Salmon From Egg to Adult Report (Band 9)
Band-9 Task 1 natural-process report on the salmon life cycle, with biological sequencing and lifecycle vocabulary.
The diagram shows the life cycle of salmon from egg to adult. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features.
Band-9 sample report
The diagram traces salmon through a nine-stage migratory loop, from riverbed eggs to ocean adults returning to spawn.
Overall, freshwater birth and growth precede ocean maturation, after which adults navigate back upstream to reproduce and die. The cycle spans roughly four years and two habitats.
Life begins buried: females deposit eggs in riverbed gravel nests, where incubation lasts several winter months. Hatching releases alevin — yolk-sac fry nourished without feeding — which emerge as fry once sacs absorb. Fry school in streams for a year or more, growing through parr stages marked by camouflage barring, before smoltification silvers them for saltwater transition.
Ocean life occupies the middle years. Smolts migrate downstream to estuaries, acclimatize gradually, then disperse into open seas where abundant feeding drives rapid growth over two to three years. Mature adults, some exceeding a meter, then perform the cycle's marvel: navigating thousands of kilometers back to natal rivers, leaping falls and evading predators.
Spawning completes the loop. Exhausted females deposit eggs in fresh gravel, males fertilize, and both die — carcasses nourishing the streams that will nurse their offspring. Death funds birth; the river eats and is reborn.
(196 words)
Why this scores Band 9
Task Achievement (9): Overview establishes the loop (nine stages, two habitats, four years) before sequencing. Every stage reported with durations and transformations; the death-nourishes-birth close completes the circle.
Coherence & Cohesion (9): Freshwater/ocean/return paragraphing follows the migration. "Precede," "transition," "completes the loop" carry cyclical logic.
Lexical Resource (9): Biological precision: "alevin," "parr," "smoltification," "natal rivers," "acclimatize." Technical terms accurate and glossed by context.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy (9): Active voice for natural agency, participial phrases, em-dash qualifications. Exact.
Vocabulary to steal
- migratory loop — cyclical journey framing
- yolk-sac fry — developmental stage (precise term)
- camouflage barring — protective markings
- silvers them — saltwater adaptation (vivid verb)
- natal rivers — birth rivers (technical term)
- death funds birth — ecological cycle close
FAQs
Natural vs manufactured processes: what changes?
Voice and agency: nature acts actively (salmon migrate, eggs hatch) while factories are acted upon. Active voice dominates life cycles.
How do I handle cyclical diagrams?
Start at the conventional beginning (eggs), follow the loop, and explicitly close it (adults spawn the next eggs). Beginning stated, circle closed.
Sizes and durations: include estimates?
Yes where given: fry lengths, ocean years. Biological specifics demonstrate precise reporting; omit nothing quantified.
Master every chart type in the Task 1 samples library.