capelin

Atlantic cod was a top-tier predator, along with haddock, flounder and hake, feeding upon smaller prey, such as herring, capelin, shrimp and snow crab.

Adult cod primarily feed on fish such as capelin and herring.

Additional items found in stomachs have included wolffish, capelin, skate eggs and sometimes rocks, accidentally ingested when whales feed near the bottom.

Important diet components include walleye pollock, Atka mackerel, halibut, herring, capelin, flatfish Pacific cod ,< ref name =" Sinclair 2002 "> rockfish, sculpins, and cephalopods.

This stems largely from the “ junk-food hypothesis ” representing a shift in their diet from fatty herring and capelin to leaner fare like pollock and flounder, thereby limiting their ability to consume and store fat. Other hypotheses include increased predation by orcas, indirect effects of prey species composition shifts due to changes in climate, effects of disease or contaminants, shooting by fishermen, and others.

Migration of Icelandic capelin

Larger capelin also eat krill and other crustaceans.

The capelin move inshore in large schools to spawn and migrate in spring and summer to feed in plankton rich areas between Iceland, Greenland, and Jan Mayen.

Around Iceland maturing capelin make large northward feeding migrations in spring and summer.

Capelin on the way to feeding grounds is coloured green, capelin on the way back is blue, and the breeding grounds are red.

In a paper published in 2009, researchers from Iceland recount their application of an interacting particle model to the capelin stock around Iceland, successfully predicting the spawning migration route for 2008.

In the North Atlantic, they prey on sand lance, sand eel, salmon, capelin, mackerel, cod, whiting, sprat, wolffish, dogfish, pollack, haddock, herring, euphausiids, and copepods.

They mainly eat fish and other aquatic animals, particularly sculpins, sandfish ( Trichodon ), cods, capelin, and crabs.

Fish species include Atlantic cod, sword fish, haddock, and capelin.

They feed mostly on small pelagic schooling fish, particularly herring, capelin, and sprat.

Examples of migratory forage fish are herring, anchovies, capelin and menhaden.

Other fishery targets include haddock, Atlantic herring, lobster and several species of flatfish and pelagic fish such as sand lance and capelin.

Adult sablefish are opportunistic feeders, preying on fish ( including walleye pollock, eulachon, capelin, herring, sandlance, and Pacific cod ), squid, euphausiids, jellyfish ( Yang and Nelson 2000 ).

The capelin or caplin, Mallotus villosus, is a small forage fish of the smelt family found in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

Larger capelin also eat a great deal of krill and other crustaceans.

Whales, seals, cod, squid, mackerel, beluga whales and seabirds all prey on capelin, in particular during the spawning season of the capelin while it migrates southwards.

Puffin with capelin

Barents Sea capelin migrate during winter and early spring to the coast of northern Norway ( Finnmark ) and the Kola Peninsula ( Russia ) for spawning.

During summer and autumn capelin migrate north-and north-eastward for feeding.