The capelin in the Barents Sea
Capelin is a small salmoid fish distributed in boreal areas on the northern hemisphere. It is a pelagic schooling fish feeding on zooplankton. The capelin spawns once and then dies.
The mature part of the stock, consisting of fish 3-5 years and longer than 14 cm, migrate towards the coast and reaches the shores in the beginning of March, where it spawns along the coasts of Troms, Finnmark and the Kola peninsula. Usually, some spawning occurs also later in the year, mostly in eastern Finnmark and on the Russian side of the border.
The capelin spawns at the bottom, mostly at depths of 20-60 m, on sand and gravel. The eggs get attached to the bottom, where they hatch after one…
