Melanogrammus Gill, 1863
Upper jaw projecting beyond lower one, not reaching eye. A barbel on chin, short, much shorter than eye diameter. Coronal fossa on frontals closed in front of commissure between supra-orbital canals. Sensory canals with large pores on head. First anal fin short, its base less than one-half of preanal distance and its origin usually below the origin of second dorsal fin or just behind it. First dorsal fin high and sharply pointed. Bones of pectoral girdle, especially post-temporal, swollen and ivory-like. Lateral line black, continuous over whole body. A black blotch above pectoral fin.
Habitat: offshore, benthic at 40-30 m depth, occasionally in midwater, young pelagic until 1 year old. Behaviour: in shoals, with feeding and spawning migrations. Food: bottom invertebrates, ophiuroids, polychaetes, molluscs, echinoids, small fish; young feed on copepods. Reproduction: from February to June, mainly March and April, at 100-150 m.
Distribution: North Atlantic and adjacent seas, from Portugal to Iceland, Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, White Sea (occasionally), Skagerrak, Kattegat, also western North Atlantic, off Greenland (occasionally).
Species 1.
Species of this genus in the program:
Melanogrammus aeglefinus