The results showed a higher abundance of gelatinous zooplankton species in 2007 compared to 2008. This was particularly evident between longitudes 30-40ºE and 75ºN. In 2008, the highest abundance of gelatinous zooplankton was found more south and west in the Barents Sea than the previous year. Both in 2007 and in 2008, the distribution of “jellyfish” showed a considerable overlap with regions poor in mesozooplankton biomass.
The data should however be interpreted with some caution since many smaller “jellyfish” species are not sampled adequately with the method used.
The majority of hauls were conducted as standardized stepwise hauls in the 40-20-0 m depth interval, but a few hauls were operated deeper. The catches were adjusted for time of trawling. It is assumed that the results mainly reflect the occurrence of the larger Scyphozoan medusa of the genus Aurelia and Cyanea. Hence, the occurrence of smaller Ctenophora species cannot be verified the way the data has been extracted and compiled except for some larger and more robust forms. (This species and some small “jellyfish” are nevertheless trapped in WP2 net, and this method should be used in the future.)
