Trophic ecology of deep-water fishes associated with the continental slope of the Eastern Norwegian Sea

In June 1995 and 1996 demersal fishes on the continental slope of the eastern Norwegian Sea were sampled to study distribution patterns and community structure. The diets of the more abundant slope species were characterised and linkages within the upper slope food web identified. Most of the smaller fishes fed on hyperbenthic crustaceans such as amphipods and mysids, while pelagic crustaceans and fish dominated the diets of larger fishes. Herring (Clupea harengus) and blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) were important prey items of Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides), and were also eaten by Lycodes frigidus, Raja hyperborea, and roughhead grenadier (Macrounis berglax). At least for the latter three species this probably reflected scavenging. Few cases of predator-prey relationships between the typical slope fishes were found.