The energetic status of fresh sperm of wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) was presented in selected males (n 510) with motility rate ! 80%. Purine and pyridine nucleotides: adenosine triphosphate (ATP), adenosine diphosphate (ADP), adenosine monophosphate (AMP), guanosine triphosphate, guanosine diphosphate, guanosine monophosphate, inosine monophosphate, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate; nucleosides: adenosine, guanosine and inosine; bases: hypoxanthine, xanthine and uric acid were determined using the high-performance liquid chromatography method. The average value of adenylate energy charge in the group was 0.77 AE 0.10, and the mean total adenine nucleotide content (TAN) was 65.1 AE 18.3 pmol  10 À 6 spermatozoa. The mean concentrations of ATP, ADP and AMP were 43.5,11.8 and 9.9 pmol  10 À 6 spermatozoa respectively. The concentrations of the other energetic nucleotides studied were lower. In all males studied (n 5 23) with a motility rate from 0% to 95%, no statistically signi¢cant correlation between the per cent of motile sperm and ATP concentration was found (R s 5 0.35), whereas the correlation between the per cent of motile sperm and ADP was statistically signi¢cant (R s 5 0.60). A negative correlation was found between hypoxanthine and the per cent of motile spermatozoa (R s 5 À 0.44). Our results suggest that hypoxanthine is the ¢nal product of salmon spermatozoa of adenine nucleotide catabolism.