Pelagic Fish

General Information

North Sea

Baltic Sea

Clyde Marine Region

Adriatic Sea

Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Pelagic Fish

Layer Info
Category	Ecology
Sub-category	Fish
Editable	No

Description

Several species depicted in the MSP Challenge might be classified as pelagic, such as herring, sprat and mackerel, the page is for other pelagic fish not described anywhere else.

Pelagic fish inhabit the water column (not near the bottom or the shore) of coasts, open oceans, and lakes.

Pelagic fish get their name from the area that they inhabit called the pelagic zone. The pelagic zone is the largest habitat on earth with a volume of 330 million cubic miles. Different species of pelagic fish are found throughout this zone. Numbers and distributions vary regionally and vertically, depending on availability of light, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity, and pressure.

Pelagic fish can be categorized as coastal and oceanic fish, based on the depth of the water they inhabit. Coastal pelagic fish inhabit sunlit waters up to about 655 feet deep, typically above the continental shelf. Examples of species include forage fish such as anchovies, sardines, shad, and menhaden and the predatory fish that feed on them. Oceanic pelagic fish typically inhabit waters below the continental shelf. Examples include larger fish such as swordfish, tuna, mackerel, and even sharks.

There is no distinct boundary from coastal to ocean waters so some oceanic fish become partial residents of coastal waters, often during different stages of their lifecycle. However, true oceanic species spend their entire life in the open ocean.

NOAA, n.d. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/pelagic.html

Not applicable. This layer is not present in the North Sea Edition.

This data layer is only present in the Western Baltic Sea Edition.

Western Baltic Sea

Comming soon...

Types

• Very Low Density
• Low Density
• Medium Density
• High Density
• Very High Density

Metadata

Data Source

Pelagic Fish is a month-by-month, computer generated data layer following calculations made by the ecosystem simulation (EwE). For more information on how Ecopath-with-Ecosim (EwE) works, please visit our Wiki page or visit the official EwE website at https://ecopath.org.

Not applicable. This layer is not present in the Clyde Marine Region.

Not applicable. This layer is not present in the Adriatic Sea Edition.

In the Eastern Mediterranean Sea the ecosystem model distinguishes pelagic fish in three groups:

• Large pelagic fish
• Medium pelagic fish
• Small pelagic fish

Types

• Very Low Density

• Low Density
• Medium Density
• High Density
• Very High Density

Metadata

Data Source

Large, Medium and Small Pelagic Fish are month-by-month, computer generated data layers following calculations made by the ecosystem simulation (EwE). The simplified EwE Eastern Mediterranean model was adjusted for use in the MSP Challenge by Eyal Ofir.

For more information on how Ecopath-with-Ecosim (EwE) works, please visit our Wiki page or visit the official EwE website at https://ecopath.org.