Gadidae

Haddock

Melanogrammus aeglefinus

One black blotch hanging beneath an unbroken dark line

• Black
• Gray
• Silver
• Temperate
• Regional distribution
• Marine fish
• Arctic Ocean
• Atlantic Ocean
• Fusiform
• Large
• Temperate fish

Marked by an indelible dark shoulder blotch and an immaculate black lateral line, the haddock is a premier commercial cold-water gadid schooling across the boreal continental shelves of the North Atlantic Ocean. Its high-bodied, hydrodynamic frame features three distinct dorsal fins and two anal fins, accompanied by a small chin barbel under the jaw. The body displays a dark purplish-grey or charcoal dorsal mantle that shades into iridescent silvery-grey sides and an immaculate white belly. Its definitive identification hallmarks are a solid, deep black lateral line that cuts cleanly along the flanks, and a prominent, dark oval blotch situated above the pectoral fin, celebrated in maritime folklore as the Devil's thumbprint or St. Peter's mark. Indigenous to the cold temperate North Atlantic from Spitsbergen and Iceland to the North Sea, and from the Grand Banks south to Cape Cod, it forages in deep schools over sandy, gravel, and shell ocean floors from ten to four hundred and fifty meters depth in temperatures between two and ten degrees Celsius. Demersal feeders hunt brittle stars, molluscs, worms, and small fishes. Maximum recorded length attains one hundred and twelve centimetres.

Sources: NOAA Fisheries — Haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus