- Skagerrak
The Skagerrak
strait runs betweenNorway and the southwest coast ofSweden and the Jutland peninsula ofDenmark , connecting theNorth Sea and theKattegat strait, which leads to theBaltic Sea .Name
The names for both "Skagerrak" and "Kattegat" are of Dutch origin. "Skagerrak" is derived from the Dutch word for "
Skagen ", the northernmost tip ofJutland . The syllable "rak" means a straightwaterway .Nudansk Ordbog (1993), 15th edition, 2nd reprint, Copenhagen: Politikens Forlag, entry "Skagerrak".] [Den Store Danske Encyklopædi (2004), CD-ROM edition, Copenhagen: Gyldendal, entry "Skagerrak".] The ultimate source of this syllable is the Proto-Indo-European root *reg-, "straight". No evidence suggests a connection to the modern Danish word "rak" (meaning rabble or riff-raff).According to "
Den Store Danske Encyklopædi " and "Politikens Nydansk Ordbog ", the name "Kattegat" derives from the Dutch words "Kat" (cat) and "Gat" (hole). It refers to latemedieval navigation, where captains compared this region to a hole so narrow that even a cat would have difficulty creeping through due to the many reefs and shallow waters. [Den Store Danske Encyklopædi (2004), CD-ROM edition, Copenhagen: Gyldendal, entry "Kattegat".] Nudansk Ordbog (1993), 15th edition, 2nd reprint, Copenhagen: Politikens Forlag, entry "Kattegat".] At one point, the passable waters are a mere 3.84kilometers (2.38 miles) wide. An older name for both the Skagerrak andKattegat was the "Norwegian Sea" or "Jutland Sea".Knýtlinga saga mentions the name "Jótlandshaf" for both waters.Geography
The Skagerrak is roughly triangular in shape, measuring km to mi|240|wiki=yes in length, and between km to mi|80|abbr=yes and km to mi|140|abbr=yes in width. It deepens toward the Norwegian coast, reaching over 700 metres at the
Norwegian Trench . Some ports along the Skagerrak areOslo andKristiansand inNorway andUddevalla andStrömstad inSweden .The Skagerrak has a
salinity of 30practical salinity unit s. The volume available to biomass is about km2 to mi2|3600|wiki=yes, including a wide variety of habitats from the sandbanks to Sweden and Denmark to the deeps of the Norwegian trench.History
In both world wars, the Skagerrak was strategically very important for
Germany . One of the biggest sea battles ofWorld War I , theBattle of Jutland , also known as the Battle of the Skagerrak, took place thereMay 31 toJune 1 ,1916 . The importance of controlling this waterway, the only natural access to the Baltic, provided the motivation for the German invasion ofDenmark andNorway duringWorld War II .Biology
The Skagerrak provides a habitat for approximately 2000 marine species, many of them adapted to its waters. For example, a variety of
Atlantic cod called the Skagerrak cod spawns off the Norwegian coast. The eggs are buoyant and the hatchlings feed onzooplankton . Juveniles sink to the bottom where they have a shorter maturity cycle (2 years). They do not migrate but remain local to Norwegianfjord s.The variety of habitats and the large volume of
plankton on the surface support a prolific marine life. Energy moves from the top to the bottom according toVinogradov 's ladder of migrations; that is, some species arebenthic and otherspelagic but there are graded layers in which species move vertically for short distances. In addition, some species arebenthopelagic , moving between surface and bottom.The benthic species include "
Coryphaenoides rupestris ", "Argentina silus ", "Etmopterus spinax ", "Chimaera monstrosa " and "Glyptocephalus cynoglossus ". On the top are "Clupea harengus ", "Scomber scombrus ", "Sprattus sprattus ". Some species that move between are "Pandalus borealis ", "Sabinea sarsi ", "Etmopterus spinax ".References
External links
* [http://journal.nafo.int/archive22-33/J31/session4/bergstad.pdf Skagerrak Deep-water Fish Assemblage]
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