Gadidae

Saithe

Pollachius virens

Spring brings the shoals ashore winter sends them deep

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

Distinguished by an immaculate gleaming white lateral line that cuts straight across dark greenish flanks, the saithe (or coalfish) is a sleek, highly agile pelagic gadid patrolling the cold waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Its streamlined, torpedo-like frame features three discrete dorsal fins and two anal fins, accompanied by a slightly projecting lower jaw that houses a tiny, rudimentary chin barbel. The dorsal coloration ranges from deep olive-green to charcoal-black, grading into shimmering silvery-grey sides and an immaculate white belly, accented by a perfectly straight, contrasting pale lateral line that runs unbroken from behind the head into the tail. Distributed from northern Norway, Iceland, and the Barents Sea south to the North Sea, and from Greenland and Labrador to Cape Hatteras, it occupies rocky continental shelves and open coastal currents from the surface down to three hundred and sixty meters depth. Vast, disciplined schools cruise offshore reefs to hunt herrings, sprats, sandeels, and pelagic euphausiid krill. Maximum recorded total length reaches one hundred and thirty centimetres.

Sources: NOAA Fisheries — Saithe (Pollock), Pollachius virens