Micronekton and pelagic fishes in fjords on the Norwegian Skagerrak coast in winter

Information on the species composition, distribution patterns and food-web of micronekton and pelagic fish communities of fjords on the Norwegian Skagerrak coast is assembled based on data from February 1993-1995 herring-sprat surveys and detailed studies in the Kristiansand and Risorfjords in 1995. Herring (Clupea harengus) and sprat (Sprattus sprattus) were characteristic species in many fjords, and also in the Kristiansand and Risor fjords. In addition, several gadoid fishes occurred. Euphausiids dominated among the invertebrates, but in the deeper open Kristiansand-fjord, Pasiphaea sp. and Pandalus borealis were abundant in the deeper layers. The community in the Kristiansandfjord resembled that found in the adjacent Skagerrak deepwater. It is suggested that ocean-fjord interactions are relatively pronounced in the rather small fjords along the Norwegian Skagerrak coast, and because advective and migratory exchanges across the sill are supposedly important processes, still depth is important in determining the dynamics and structure of the pelagic communities.