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607 Featured Specimen
Capelin

Details

Capelin

Mallotus villosus

Size
10–25 cm · 10–80 g
Diet
Carnivore
Activity
Cathemeral
Sociality
Herd
Lifespan

A small schooling fish of Arctic, North Atlantic, and North Pacific seas that surges toward coasts to spawn and feeds many predators.

Range

Habitat range map
Native range Occasional / Transient
Pacific OceanPacific OceanPacific OceanAtlantic OceanAtlantic OceanAtlantic OceanAtlantic OceanAtlantic OceanArctic OceanArctic OceanArctic OceanPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearcticNearctic

Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)

Details

Habitat

Lives in cold ocean and coastal waters, especially subarctic parts of the Barents Sea, North Atlantic, and North Pacific.

Appearance

The body is slender and silvery with a dark green back. Breeding males develop hairy-looking scale ridges along the sides.

Behavior

Large schools migrate widely and gather on shallow gravel or beaches to spawn, with runs that vary strongly by year.

Feeding

It eats copepods, krill, and other small plankton, carrying plankton energy to larger marine predators.

Reproduction

Eggs are deposited on gravel or beaches and stick to the substrate. In some areas many adults die after spawning.

Notes

Capelin is sold as food and is key prey for cod, whales, seals, and seabirds in cold northern seas.