Species

European hake in the North Sea, Skagerrak and Norwegian coastal waters

Nordsjøsild er en pelagisk stimfisk som finnes i Nordsjøen, Skagerrak og Kattegat. Det er både høst-, vinter- og vårgytende sild i området, men den høstgytende nordsjøsilda dominerer.

The herring is a pelagic fish inhabiting the upper water masses. Norwegian spring-spawning herring (NSSH) belongs to the Atlanto-Scandian herring together with Icelandic summer-spawning and Icelandic spring-spawning herring.

Polar cod is a pelagic or semi pelagic fish, ie. it lives in the free water masses, but is usually distributed down to the bottom, often in very dense concentrations. It is a cold-water species which thrives best north of the Polar front. 

Despite its commercial interest, lumpfish is a poorly studied group, and many aspects of its lifecycle and ecology are unknown. Lumpfish is a semi-pelagic species. The adults are distributed in the open ocean but migrate towards coastal areas to spawn. This happens during the spring season and the males generally arrive at the coast before the females.

Saithe occur only in the North Atlantic, with a small population in the western part between the border of Canada and USA. In the Northeast Atlantic saithe is currently divided into six stocks primarily in the area west of Ireland, west of Scotland, around the Faroe Islands, Iceland, the North Sea, and along the Norwegian coast north of Stad.

Cod is a predatory fish and mainly a demersal fish, but in the Barents Sea it is also to a large extent distributed in the pelagic water masses during some parts of the year. Young cod (age 0–2) feed mainly on zooplankton, while fish and benthic organisms are the main food items for the older cod.

Norway pout is a small, short-lived fish species in the cod family (Gadidae) that lives at depths ranging from 50–250 meters.