Animals in Gaelic Lore/Folklore

"In both Irish and Welsh tradition, the salmon was considered one of the Oldest Animals of Celtic tradition, and the most wise. The greatest desire of poets and wisdom seekers was to find and eat either the hazelnuts that dropped into the Well of Wisdom or the salmon who ate them, for then they would be filled with imbas, divine illumination. The salmon swam from the Well of Wisdom down into the rivers of Ireland, which is why poets believed that poetry was revealed upon the brink of water. In other versions, the well is located at the bottom of the sea, so salmon is a creature who brings the wisdom of the Underworld into our own, a messenger of two worlds. "


Mara Freeman, Kindling the Celtic Spirit