What do shrimp from the Barents Sea eat?

Shrimp is Norway’s second largest fisheries industry, providing nearly 10% of the income generated from fisheries (1.5 billion € annually). Shrimp feed on other biological resources to obtain the energy they require for growth, reproduction, and metabolism. Hence the food items this economically important species relies upon for survival, is an important question. In addition, a better understanding of predator-prey relationships in the Barents Sea is essential for predicting how environmental changes will influence the sustainability of fisheries resource over time.

For this reason, Akvaplan-niva’s taxonomic experts were commissioned to undertake an examination of the stomachs of shrimp caught in the Barents Sea. The experts established that shrimp diets are dominated by soft-bottom species of benthic organisms. The dominant food item found in shrimp stomachs was Polychaeta, a group of organisms that are found extensively in fine sediment deposits on the Barents seafloor. The findings highlight an important linkage between sedentary benthic species and a key species of the Barents Sea fisheries resource.

Financed by Institute of Marine Research, Tromsø Branch

Figure: The polychaete Maldane sarsi, is a dominant in the Arctic, both in terms of size and number, and serves as one of the main food items for shrimp in the Barents Sea.

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