In the coastal waters of Newfoundland, salmon feed mainly on herring, capelin and sand eels, while in Labrador, young cod was a vital part of the diet.

Gadus morhua. Common name: cod.
Here is a trio of small cod.
Photo with a curtsey of Mr Claude Nozères, World Register Of Marine Species.

One of the surveys done by scientists in the North Atlantic showed that fish could be the bulk diet in weight – but shrimps could account for a staggering 95% of the food in numbers.

Above: Meganyctiphanes norvegica swimming with a Thermisto libellula  – Both crucial animals in the zoo-plankton food chain. Both are 30 – 45 millimetres big.

Above: Crustaceans of the genus Thermistor libellula one of the crustaceans salmon, had eaten in the sea north of the Faeroe Islands. Along with other crustaceans, this food source was found in high numbers during the survey conducted during late autumn. Photo Mr Claude Nozères, World Register Of Marine Species

Above: Thermisto libellula in comparison to its cousin: Themisto abyssorum. Photo Mr Kwasniewski Slawomir, World Register Of Marine Species

Above: Meganyctiphanes norvegica swimming with a Thermisto libellula (see above) – Both important animals in the zooplankton food chain. Both are 30 – 45 millimetres big. Photos Mr Claude Nozères, World Register Of Marine Species

Above: Sergestes arcticus (top of photo), another type of shrimp. Below in the same photo is a Nothern krill, Meganyctiphanes norvegica. Photo Mr Claude Nozères, World Register Of Marine Species

Above: Paraeuchaeta norvegica. A marine planktonic copepod 6 – 7 millimetres long – The blue sack at the rear is eggs. Photo © ®Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Jean-François St-Pierre, 2011

Above: Crustaceans of the genus Themisto abyssorum – another important food source found during the survey. Photo Mrs Joanna Legeżyńska, World Register Of Marine Species

Above: From top to bottom: Thermisto libellula, Themisto abyssorum and Thermisto compressa. Three crustaceans were found in great numbers in the survey conducted in the North-East Atlantic. Photo Mr A. Kraft, Alfred-Wegener-Institut

Above: Meganyctiphanes norvegica A krill commonly known as the Northern Krill. A crustacean that is a central figure in the zooplankton mass and an important course of food for whales, birds and fish in the North Atlantic. Photo: © & ® Øystein Paulsen

Above: Hymenodora glacialis Brilliant blood-red shrimp growing to 19 – 20-millimetre. Photo Mr Russ Hopcroft, World Register Of Marine Species

Above: Eusirus holmi – A 40 – 50-millimetre big Gammaridea. Photo Mr Russ Hopcroft, World Register Of Marine Species

Above: Maurolicus muelleri: Pearlside. A small silver fish with pigment spots. Size: 40 – 80 mm – a species that lives (mesopelagic) from 20 – 400 meters deep. It lives at greater depth during the daytime and rises toward the surface when it gets dark. Photo Mr Jim Ellis,  World Register Of Marine Species 

Above: lampanyctus crocodilus or Jewel lanternfish. A small fish that feeds on zooplankton found from 45 – 4000 meters depth – fully grown it will stay between 700-1,000 meters during the day and 4000-1,000 meters at night. Photo Mr Costa, F, Discoverlife

Above: Myctophum punctatum. Its common name is spotted lanternfish. Just like Notoscopelus kroeyeri it lives to the depth of 1000 meters during the daytime but may come to the surface during nighttime Photo Mrs Daphne Themelis, World Register Of Marine

Above: Clupea harengus Linnaeus. Commonly known as herring belonging to the family Clupeidae (herrings, shads, sardines, menhadens), which consists of some 200 species, A large family of fish of great importance to marine life also in the North Atlantic. It feeds on copepods, crustaceans and fish eggs. Prefer relatively shallow waters 1 – 200 meters.

Above: Gaidropsarus argentatus. Commonly known as Arctic rockling, it is a genus of lotid fishes.  (Here, a juvenile specimen). Found offshore at depths of 150- 2000 meters on soft bottoms. Photo Mr Claude Nozères, World Register Of Marine Species

Left: Scomber scombrus. The Atlantic mackerel is a pelagic schooling species on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean. The species is also called Boston mackerel or just mackerel. The mackerel is, in its own right, a ferocious predator that can grow to a length of 50 centimetres – but like most fish, they start out being sizable prey to salmon that roam the same waters as the mackerel. The mackerel strain is growing strong these years, and the species is migrating further north into the Arctic Ocean – Some say that they have become a potent adversary to the Atlantic salmon, who will have to fight for the same food as the Atlantic mackerel – New surveys on this hot topic will surely be worth reading.

bove: gonatus fabricii or Boreoatlantic gonate squid or boreoatlantic arm hook squid, is a squid in the family Gonatidae. (Here is a juvenile specimen) It occurs in the northern Atlantic Ocean from Canada to the Barents Sea. Grows to 30 cm in length. This tiny beautiful squid was well represented in the Norwegian team’s late autumn and winter surveys. Photo Mr Claude Nozères, World Register Of Marine Species 

Above: Arctozenus risso – A long fish of the baracudinas family, occurring singly or in small schools mainly at 200-1000 meters depth. Grows to 29-centimetre. Photo Mr Henk Heessen, World Register Of Marine Species

Above: Notoscopelus kroeyeri, Another deep sea fish that lives to the depth of 1000 meters during the daytime but may come to the surface during nighttime – Grow to 17 centimetres. It has glowing dots along the body that help disguise the fish’s outline when seen from below. Photo Mr Henrik Carl, Fiskeatlas –

Above: Benthosema glaciale. Commonly known as Glacier lanternfish. Also, a small migrating deep-sea fish that surges to 700 – 1000 meters at day time to return close to the surface at night time Photo Fisheries and Oceans Canada, World Register Of Marine

Above: mallotus villosus capelin: The capelin or caplin is a small fish of the smelt family found in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans – A important food source for the Atlantic salmon. Photo Mr Claude Nozères, World Register Of Marine Species

Above: Micromestistius poutassou. Commonly known as Blue Whiting, belonging to the cod family. Found over the continental slope and shelf to more than 1000 meters, but more common at 300-400 meters. Blue whiting can grow to a length of more than 40 centimetres. Photo Mr Henk Heessen, World Register Of Marine Species

Above: Belone belone. Commonly known as garfish. Yet another ferocious predator that the Atlantic salmon will feed on when they find them in the correct size. The garfish, or sea needle, is a pelagic, oceanodromous  needlefish found in brackish and marine waters of the Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea and the Baltic Sea. The garfish is a long and slender fish that grows to about 50 to 75 centimetres – They hunt in packs near the surface, Photo Mr Pillon Roberto, World Register Of Marine Species 

Above: Gasterosteus aculeatus or three-spined stickleback. Lives in marine, brackish, fresh. Most populations are anadromous (they live in seawater but breed in fresh or salty water). Among the larger sticklebacks, it is usually 5 cm (2 in) long.