Along the coast there were also large numbers of seals and whales. The ancestors of the present Norwegians hunted many seal, but provided that reserves of fish were not overfished there was room for both. The fish are a very different matter. The first to arrive were arctic species such as cod, haddock, coalfish and halibut. These spread along the whole coast up to the Arctic Sea and since time immemorial they have been a main means of subsistence to the coastal population.
Many species live far out at sea, only coming to the coast to spawn.
The most important of these is the cod which lives in the Barents Sea and migrates to the Lofoten Islands where it spawns in huge numbers. As the rivers emerged from the ice, salmon, trout and char swam up to spawn. These are the only fish along Norway's coast that can live in both salt and fresh water. The trout and char remained in the lakes, and were often removed further up river by man. But the salmon grows to maturity in the sea and only swims up river to spawn and later to die.