Fish

Of the 240 fish species known from the Faroese waters, 43 belong to the cartilaginous fish and can be divided into 24 species of shark, 14 species of ray and five species of chimaera. All the remaining species are bony fish. Among other things, the distribution of the individual species depends on the food sources and a number of abiotic factors such as temperature, salinity and currents. The fish can also be divided into pelagic species, which swim in the free water masses, and benthic species, which live at the bottom.

Around 14 % of the fish species found on the Faroese plateau are arctic cold-water species such as Arctic skate (Amblyraja hyperborea), Arctic rockling (Gaidropsarus argentatus), greater eelpout (Lycodes esmarkii) and Lutken’s eelpout (Lycodes luetkenii). Boreal species, in other words the species whose distribution extends from the English Channel in the south and north to Tromsø in Norway, make up about 37 % and include Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), European ling (Molva molva), blue ling (Molva dypterygia), lemon sole (Microstomus kitt) and witch flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus). Six fish species (around 4 %) live in the area between the Arctic and boreal species. About 34 % of the species can be found from the Mediterranean in the south to the boreal region in the north, while the remaining 11 % are East Atlantic species, which reach the northwestern boundary of their distribution at the Faroe Islands. The last group includes species such as sandy ray (Leucoraja circularis), sprat (Sprattus sprattus), poor cod (Trisopterus minutus) and flounder (Platichthys flesus).

The Faroe Islands are also habitat to a few species of freshwater fish. Several of these species periodically appear in the sea. This applies, for example, to sea trout (Salmo trutta), salmon (Salmo salar), threespined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and eel (Anguilla anguilla).

Among the many different fish species, only 15‑20 species are of commercial importance. Fishing for benthic species is mainly concentrated on three species of cod fish: cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) and saithe (Pollachius virens). In 2019, the catch of the three species totalled 47,440 tonnes, corresponding to 83 % of the total catch of demersal fish in the Faroese plateau. Among the pelagic species, only blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), herring and mackerel (Scomber scombrus) are caught, and in 2019 the total catch of the three species was 398,661 tonnes.

Faroe Bank’s large cod

Faroe Bank is located some 75 km southwest of Suðuroy and covers an area of 3,630 km² within the 200 m depth curve. Since the water masses mostly circulate around the bank itself, a special ecosystem evolves here. For example, the water temperature on Faroe Bank is 7‑8°C in spring and 9‑11°C in autumn, which is 1‑2°C higher than the shelf water above the Faroese plateau.

60 different fish species have been recorded on the bank, where especially the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is notable for its rapid growth. The high water temperatures and a rich food base mean that a three-year-old cod from Faroe Bank weighs 4.2 kg on average, while a cod of the same age from the plateau only weighs around 1.7 kg. In comparison, three-year-old cods from the waters south and east of Iceland weigh 1.9 kg and 0.9 kg on average, respectively, while off West Greenland, they weigh in at a modest 700 g.

The migration triangle

A number of different fish species are so-called migratory fish, which make seasonal migrations to and from specific spawning grounds. After spawning and hatching, the fish fry is often carried passively with the current from the spawning grounds to nursing grounds where food is plentiful and the fry can seek shelter from predators. As the small fish get bigger, they move to the areas where the adult fish live, only to return to the spawning grounds to give birth to their own offspring. The movements of the fish between the different areas are collectively called a migration triangle.

The migration routes vary in scale. On the Faroese plateau, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) spawn from mid-February to mid-April. Cod from the entire plateau gather on a large spawning ground north of the Faroe Islands and a smaller area to the west. The eggs hatch after two to three weeks, and the fry is carried with the current in a clockwise direction towards the coast and into the fjords. The cod fry grow up in the coastal areas, and only at the age of approx. two years do they move out into deeper water. On the plateau, the cod becomes sexually mature at the age of three to four years, after which it returns to the spawning ground where its life began.

Blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) has a similar migration pattern, but here the migration takes place on a significantly larger scale. The fish spawn west of Scotland and Ireland in March, and from here the newly hatched fry drift with the current to a nursing area in the Norwegian Sea north of the Faroe Islands. The blue whiting becomes sexually mature at the age of two, and with the coming of winter they begin to migrate south towards the spawning grounds. When spawning is over, they swim back to the area north of the Faroe Islands. The migration route to and from the spawning grounds means that the blue whiting is sometimes close around the Faroe Islands. Thus, in the period 2000‑20, between 28,000 and 646,000 tonnes of blue whiting were caught from the Faroese sea area per year. On average, the annual catches of blue whiting is around 400,000 tonnes.

Further reading

• Benthic animals
• Climate on the Faroe Islands
• Fresh Waters on the Faroe Islands
• Lakes on the Faroe Islands
• Landscapes and coasts on the Faroe Islands
• Nature and environmental management
• Plant life on land on the Faroe Islands
• Seals
• Streams on the Faroe Islands
• The sea around the Faroe Islands
• Weather conditions on the Faroe Islands
• Whales
• Wildlife in the sea around the Faroe Islands

Read more about Nature and landscape on the Faroe Islands