| Summary: | Atlantic cod <i>Gadus morhua</i> and American plaice <i>Hippoglossoides platessoides</i> are two of the most commercially valuable species in the Barents Sea (FAO Area 27). They are considered as an important but neglected source of zoonotic risk associated with nematodes from the genus <i>Phocanema</i>. The abundance of <i>Phocanema</i> spp. in a fish host individual in the Barents Sea may be quite high, which is convenient for studying the genetic structure of its populations. A total of 69 third-stage juveniles of <i>Phocanema</i> spp. were isolated from the liver, the mesentery, and the musculature of <i>G. morhua</i> and <i>H. platessoides</i> and genotyped by the mtDNA <i>Cox2</i> gene. Almost all these juveniles (68) were molecularly identified as <i>P. bulbosum.</i> The mtDNA <i>Cox2</i> gene was also used to reveal the haplotype diversity and the genetic structure of <i>P. bulbosum.</i> A comparison of the specimens examined in this study with each other and with the haplotypes previously identified by us in the White Sea showed that there were no significant differences between the groups from different hosts and from different catch areas.
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