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Atlantic cod

Gadus morhua

Information and species illustrations courtesy of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Species Information
Size Maximum size to 2 m and about 90 kg, but average size only around 60 cm with weights averaging about 2 to 3 kg in western Atlantic.
Diagnostic characters Large fish to 2 m, commonly from 30 to 100 cm, with elongated body and moderately deep caudal peduncle. Top of head lacking V-shaped ridge. Mouth large with lower jaw slightly shorter than upper jaw; teeth on vomer; chin barbel large. Long dorsal fin divided into 3 parts; anal fin in 2 parts, first anal fin short-based, less than 1/2 preanal distance; caudal fin well developed, truncate to forked; pectoral fins well developed, pointed; pelvic fins short, thoracic. Colour: variable, usually brownish to olive, or greyish to bluish dorsally, somewhat paler ventrally, belly often white, grey, or yellowish.
Habitat, biology, and fisheries Primarily demersal, but becoming pelagic when feeding and spawning; found mostly over continental shelf in 150 to 200 m, but recorded to much greater depths (over 600 m). Prefers cold waters of 0 to 5 degrees C, but found in waters as warm as 15 degrees C. A species of considerable economic importance, 141M t globally from 1950 to 2024, but stocks in western Atlantic severely depleted and commercial harvest for the most part curtailed. Marketed fresh, frozen, dried, salted, and smoked.
Distribution A boreal North Atlantic species ranging from North Carolina to Greenland, Iceland, across northern Europe, into Barents Sea including Novaya Zemlya and Spitzbergen; uncommon south of New York and New Jersey and of no commercial importance in Area 31.
Citations Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1: Introduction, molluscs, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1-600. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 601-1374. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1375-2127.