Gadidae

Pacific cod

Gadus macrocephalus

Three dorsal fins two anal fins and one long barbel

• Brown
• Gray
• White
• Regional distribution
• Marine fish
• Arctic Ocean
• Atlantic Ocean
• Fusiform
• Large

Commanding cold continental shelf floors throughout the North Pacific rim, the Pacific cod is a heavy-set, large-headed commercial gadid of vital ecological and economic importance. Its hydrodynamic, slightly compressed body features three separate rounded dorsal fins and two anal fins, accompanied by a mottled brownish-grey or olive dorsal surface sprinkled with dark spots and blotches. A defining morphological trait distinguishing it from the Atlantic cod is its exceptionally prominent chin barbel, which equals or exceeds the eye diameter in length, functioning as an acute tactile probe across muddy bottom sediments. Extending from the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan across the subarctic Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska to central California, it occupies coastal shallows, continental shelves, and upper slopes from ten to eight hundred and seventy-five meters depth in waters between zero and twelve degrees Celsius. Schools pursue walleye pollock, Pacific herring, capelin, snow crabs, and squids. Maximum recorded total length attains one hundred and nineteen centimetres.

Sources: NOAA Fisheries — Pacific Cod, Gadus macrocephalus