68 - 



I. Spawns in the Atlantic Ocean, in 

 the North Sea and Norwegian Sea 



A. On the coastal banks 

 Gadus merlangus, maximum at 20 — 6o M. 



— callarias — - 40- 80 - 



— aeglefinus — over 60 



— Esmarkii — - 80 - 



B. On the slopes of the coastal banks 



Molva molva, from 60— 200 M. 

 Gadus virens, — lOO— 200 M. 



C. Over the deep-sea margin 

 Brosmius brosme, from 100—500 M. 



II. Spawns exclusively or almost 

 exclusively in the Atlantic Ocean 

 A. On the coastal banks 

 Gadus luscus 



— minutus 



— pollachius ^ 



B. On the slopes of the coastal banks 



Merluccius vulgaris, from 100 — over 200 M. 



C. Over the deep-sea margin 



Gadiculus argenteus 

 Gadus poutassou 

 Molva byrkelange' 

 — elongata 



In depths from 

 200 to over 1000 M. 



Concerning these groups we may add the following general remarks. 



On the coastal banks of the Atlantic Ocean we find 2 groups, of which the 

 most distinctly Atlantic consists of 3 southern shallow-water forms, namely Gadus luscus, 

 G. minutus and G. pollachius, the distribution of which extends further south than the 

 region investigated reaches, and they all decrease greatly in the north, after the change 

 from the Atlantic Ocean to the Norwegian Sea and towards the North Sea (see Chart 

 fig. 16). 



The second group is in greatest abundance on the coastal banks of the Nor- 

 wegian Sea and North Sea, or perhaps just in the transitional areas between these seas 

 and the Atlantic Ocean. To this group belong the three economically important species: 

 whiting, cod and haddock. The cod goes furthest north, the haddock not so far and 

 the whiting has the least northerly distribution of the three. Gadus Esmarkii spawns 

 in somewhat deeper water still than these three species, in the northern part of the 

 North Sea. 



On the slopes towards the deep-sea margin we find in the Atlantic Merluc- 

 cius vulgaris, the ling and coalfish. Of these Merhiccius belongs almost exclusively 

 to the Atlantic Ocean, it is specially characteristic for the depths from 100 to 200 M. 

 The ling and coalfish also penetrate into the Norwegian Sea and North Sea, and they 

 also spawn over the northernmost slope of the North Sea Bank and the Romsdal Bank, 

 at the Faeroes and on the coastal banks of Iceland, everywhere in the neighbourhood of 

 the transition of these banks to the deep-sea margin. 



Over the Atlantic deep-sea margin the following species spawn: Brosmius, 

 Gadicuhts argenteus , Gadus poutassou, Molva byrkelange and elongata. Of these 

 only the torsk penetrates into the Norwegian Sea in any great quantities. It spawns here 



2 Spawns also in the Norwegian fjords. 



