No Place Like Home--3rd part

At some point each surviving salmon in a group receives an urgent, mystical messge. It is a clamorous call to come home so irresistible no choice is possible. The fish stop, turn, and begin the all-absorbing race. No one but God knows why.

Everything about the salmon and their journey has a little star-dust sprinkled here and there, a lovely reality in a much-to-often meaningless environment. It isn't difficult to imagine them sailing along beside a golden cord that pulls them homeward. Then again, in human terms the story can seem cruel and brutal as the as the great salmon push everything within them toward the one goal. the female is full of eggs. The male is intent on fertilization. They are willing to die to fulfill the all-powerful, rushing instinct.

Odd changes have taken place in the fish. They have stopped feeding and the males have grown hooked noses and large canine teeth. Their scales have lost their shine and the colors are brighter while the females are a darker hue. Everything is part of the battle plan now, and although they consciously know of no war, one of the most heart-wrenching conflicts will find them soon enough.

This is where the tale would become unbelievable if it hadn't been scientifically verified numerous times.

The salmon have been on mighty oceanic freeways; they have followed salty, global highways, and investigated the sandy-bottomed roads of Davy Jones Locker. Yet, no feat can be more daunting than finding that one small spot on the coastlines of the earth; that one special opening which led them oceanward in the beginning. Every instinct is focused toward finding the waterway leading to that still smaller welcoming stream mouth that leads to their original home, and freedom to rest.