Investigations on diel vertical migration of 0-group fish in the Barents Sea

• Main Authors: Beltestad, Arvid K., Smedstad, Odd M., Nakken, Odd
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Havforskningsinstituttet 1975
• Subjects: Barents Sea
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/114636

In August-September diel vertical migration of 0-group fish was studied in the Barents Sea. Redfish and capelin had different vertical migration patterns. 0-group redfish were found at the surface at dark and spread in the upper 50 m during the daylight period while the unpigmented 0-group capelin stayed in small schools close to the surface by daylight and dispersed into a weak scattering layer at the depth of the thermocline (20-30 m) at dark. This behaviour might introduce large errors to the abundance indices of 0-group capelin. Comparative fishing with a pelagic trawl and a purse seine were carried out. The samples showed no significant differences in the length distributions of each species of 0-group fish caught with the two gears.