Pollachius pollachius

Author: (Linnaeus, 1758)

Pollachius pollachius (Linnaeus, 1758)

Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Pollachius pollachius (Linnaeus, 1758) (updated 2009-06-25)

Diagnosis: lower jaw distinctly projecting beyond upper one. Eye large, about one and half times in snout length. Pelvic fin length about equal to orbit diameter. Caudal fin lunate. First dorsal finrays 12-13, second dorsal finrays 17-20, third dorsal finrays 17-19; first anal finrays 27-30, second anal finrays 17-20. Vertebrae 52-55. Gillrakers 25-28. Colour: dark brown or olive on back, rather abruptly shading to pale on sides and lighter on belly. Size: to 60-80 cm SL, usually less; may reach 130 cm.

Habitat: mainly inshore, young closer to the shore than the adults, midwater and demersal fish, near rough ground and rocks. Behaviour: adults live in shoals only during spawning period. Food: mainly small fish (herring, sprat). Reproduction: from January to May, more intensively in March, mostly around 100 m depth.

Distribution: European coasts from Bay of Biscay to Varanger Fjord, the Faroes, Iceland (rare), Skagerrak, Kattegat, off Bornholm (rare); one specimen recorded in north-eastern Baltic (off Muhy Sound); Mediterranean records doubtful.

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Schmidt, 1905: 17, pl. I (fig. 25-30) | Ehrenbaum, 1909: 249, fig. 90 | d'Ancona, 1933, 197, fig. 187-188.
Otoliths (sagitta). Fryd, 1901: 26 | Frost, 1926: 485, pl. XXII (fig. 10) | Sanz Echeverría, 1926: 145, fig. 61; 1935: 255, pl. XXIX (fig. 14) | Schmidt, 1968: 15, pl. 2 (fig. 27), pl. 15 | De Buen, 1932: 4, fig. 2.