BarentsPortal

There are three taxonomic groups of the shellfish (Mollucs, Crustaceans and Echinoderms) that have a potential commercial importance in the Barents Sea.

Squids

According to the  Joint PINRO/IMR Ecosystem survey data and various  literature accounts, there are 8 species  of squid inhabiting the Barents Sea: Rossia palpebrosa, R. moelleri (Sepiida), Cirroteuthis muelleri, Bathypolypus arcticus, Benthoctopus piscatorum (Octopoda), Gonatus fabricii, Todarodes sagittat and a new species that was found for the first time in 2006 - Todaropsis eblanae (Teuthida) (Golikov at al., 2008).

The flying squid Todarodes sagittatus was a significant fishing resource in Norwegian waters during several periods up about 1988 (Borges, 1990). However, since then this squid has almost been absent from our waters and only sporadic catches have been recorded. Gonatus fabrichii is another abundant squid species in the off shore waters of the Barents and the Norwegian Sea (Bjørke, 1995). Although this species has not been a subject of stock assessment, the total biomass is probably several million tonnes. This squid is important food for several bird and cetacean species, but could probably also be seen as a potential fishing resource. The squid Todaropsis eblanae was first found in the Barents Sea in 2006. It is more heat-loving and appears more rarely than Todarodes sagittatus, and are only found in low quantites in Barents sea. But the fact of it apperance is indicating a warming of water masses in Barents sea and we can wait rich appearance of T. sagittatus in the future

Other shellfish species

Other groups of mollusks which can have a commercial importance is snails from genera Buccinum and Neptunea. This snails are more often near the cost line than in the open sea and might to produce high density settlements. Clams Serripes groenlandicus, Ciliatocardium ciliatum and Arctica islandica also might be a commercial species. This large bivalves are very numerous in the eastern parts of Barents Sea. Among the echinoderms the commercial status probably has two species: sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis and large sea-cucumber Cucumaria frondosa. The first species has high density in the costal upper-sublittoral zone. The second species has big biomasson the hard bottom sediment in the several parts of the Barents Sea: Bear Islands, Sviatoynos bank.