Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) Fish Profile

(Last Updated On: April 13, 2021)

Haddock fish, scientific name Melanogrammus aeglefinus is the true cod, saltwater fish of the Gadidae family. It is the only species of the monotypic genus ‎Melanogrammus.

Haddock fish is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and its associated seas where it is an important species for fisheries, especially in northern Europe where fresh, frosty, and smoked fishes are marketed; Among the different types of smoking are Finnan Haddy and Arbroath Smokey.

Haddock fish Description

The haddock has a generally extended, flavored body shape to the cod family members. It has a relatively small face that does not extend far below the eye; The profile below the face is straight, with the upper profile slightly rounded, giving it a characteristic wedge-shaped profile on its sleeve.

The upper jaw projects a rather small barbule above the chin beyond the lower than the Atlantic code. There are three dorsal fins, the first one is triangular in shape, and these dorsal fins have 14 to 17 fin rays in the first, 20 to 24 in the second, and 19 to 22 in the third.

There are also two anal fins and the first one has 21 to 25 fin rays and the second one has 20 to 24 fin rays. The rectum and dorsal fins are distinct from each other.

The pelvic wings are shorter with the increased first fin ray

The upper part of Haddock’s body changes from pale gray to brown to almost black while the lower part of the body is dull silver-white.

In contrast to the white background color, it has a distinct black lateral line, which is slightly curved on the petrol wings.

It has a separate oval black blotch or ‘thumbprint’, sometimes called “the devil’s thumbprint”, which sits between the lateral line and the pectoral fin, a feature that goes by the name of the melanogramme gene Greek.

Melanos “which means” black “and” grammar “which means fonts or symbols. The dorsal, pectoral, and afferent feathers are of a dark gray color while the anal fins are matched with silver-colored facies and have black spots on their bases.

The pelvic fins are black with a variable amount of white spots. Sometimes there are different color variants that can be banned, there may be a lack of golden or darker shoulder spots on the back.

The longest haddock was recorded at 94 centimeters (37 inches) in length and weighed 11 kilograms (24 pounds). However, the haddock is less than 80 centimeters (31 inches) in length, and most of the UK’s haddocks measure between 30 centimeters (12 inches) and 70 centimeters (28 inches).

Eastern Canadian water haddock size 38 centimeters (15 inches). From 69 centimeters (27 inches) in length and weight to 0.9 kilograms (2.0lb) and 1.8 kilograms (4.0 lbs).

Distribution

Haddock has populations on both sides of the North Atlantic, but it has more in the East Atlantic than the North American side. In the northeast Atlantic, it occurs from the Bay of Biscay to Spitzbergen; However, it is the northernmost of the English Channel.

It also occurs in Noia Gemalia and around the Barents Sea in the Arctic. The largest stocks are in the North Sea, near the Faroe Islands, off the coast of Iceland and Norway, but they have small populations with little change.

Outside of North America, the haddock is found in Cape Hatteras from the south of western Greenland but is mainly available from commercial fishing reserves Cape Cod and the Grand Banks.

Habitat and Biology

Haddock is a demersal species that come in depths of 10 m (33 ft) to 450 m (1,480 ft) although it is often recorded from 80 m (260 ft) to 200 m (660 ft). It is found on layers formed by rocks, sand, gravel, or shales, and it prefers temperatures between 4 ° C (39 ° F) and 10 ° C (50 ° F).

Outside Iceland and in the Barents Sea, the haddock is widely dispersed, but the movement of the Northwest Atlantic is more restricted, comprising movement in and out of their spawning regions.

They reach sexual maturity of 4 years in males and 5 years in females, except in North Sea populations in which males mature between 2 years old and 3-year-old females.

The overall sex ratio is roughly 1: 1, but women dominate in shallow areas, while men show a preference for more coastal waters.

The length of the girls varies in size: A fish 25 cm (9.8 inches) long carries 55,000 eggs and at 91 cm (36 inches), a fish has 1,841,000 eggs. Spawning is about 50 meters (160 feet) deep to 150 meters (490 feet).

The expansion of the northwest Atlantic lasts from January to July, although it does not occur in all regions simultaneously, and the spanning season in the northeast Atlantic from February to June, peaks in March and April.

Eggs are pelagic with diameters of 1.2 millimeters (0.079 inches) to 1.7 millimeters (0.067 inches) and they take one to three weeks to hatch. After transformation, past larval fishes remain inaccessible until they are about 7 cm (2.5 in) in length in a demagogue habit.

Their growth rates show significant regional variations, and fish from one-year-old to 17 cm (6.7 in). 19 cm (7.5 inches), 2 years old 25 cm (9.8 inches) to 36 cm (14 inches) measuring 75 centimeters Can (30 in) to 82 cm (32 in) at the age of 13. Their lifetime is about 14 years.

The most important areas for spanning are on the south coast of Iceland, on the central coast of Norway and in the waters of the Georges coast. Fish grown in coastal waters are generally smaller and younger than those occurring in coastal areas.

Underage fish have a spawning season that is less than half the stock of large and old stock offshore.

Once the larvae hatch, they do not appear to go too far from the spawning grounds, but some of the larvae, which extend along the west coast of Scotland, migrate to the Fair Isle-Shetland Gap or northeast of Shetland.

During their larval stages, Haddock mainly feeds on crips, larvaeans, decapoded larvae, capopods, and immature stages of hunting copepods of 3–10 cm in length on small fish, and plagiaric post larvae.

Once they are settled, bentic invertebrates become increasingly important when the larvae reach the next stage, although they still feed on pelagic organisms such as krill, benthic invertebrates form a growing part of their diet as they grow.

Adults are fishermen such as sand elves, Tryptarus esmarci, Hippoglossides plateausides, gobies, European sprats, and Atlantic herring, as well as capelins, silver hawks, American isles, and Argentines.

The stomach contents of most fish taken at the same time are sampled, with most of the stomach having the same prey, indicating that the haddock is feeding on the shoals.

Shellfish, sea urchins, brittle, and worms are important prey, especially in winter. Juvenile haddock is an important prey to large demersal fishes, along with other gadoids, while seals hunt large fish.

Parasite

Cods and related species are endangered by parasites. For example, cod worm, Lernaeocera bronchialis began life as a copepod, a small, free-swimming crustacean larva.

The first host used by cod worms is a flatfish or lumpscar, which they attach to the front of their body, with they enter the lumpscar with a thin filament that they use to suck its blood.

The nourished cod worms then coexist with the lumpscar.

The wife worms, with her now hatched eggs, then look for a cod, or a codfish, such as a haddock or white. There, the worm is swallowed when it transforms into a plump, sinusoidal, wormlike body with a coiled mass of egg string in the back.

The front of the worm’s body enters the body of the cod until it enters the bulb in the back of the host’s heart.

There, firmly rooted in the circulatory system of the cod, the frontal part of the parasite develops like a branch of a tree and reaches the main artery.

In this way, the worm extracts the nutrients from the blood of the cod, safely securing it under the cover of the cod’s gill until it releases a newborn baby into the water.

As food

Haddock is very popular as a food fish. It is sold fresh or stored by smoking, frosting, drying, or canning in small quantities. One of the most popular fish used in British fish and chips, including Haddock, Atlantic cod, and place.

When fresh, the meat of the haddock is clean and white, and its cooking is often like cod. A fresh haddock fillet should be firm and transparent and kept well together, but fewer fresh fillets will become almost opaque.

Young, fresh haddock and cod fillets are often sold in Boston, Massachusetts as shreds; It refers to the different sizes, that is, the size of the scrod, market, and the fish with the cow.

Haddock is one of Scotland’s favorite staple fish in the Fish Sapper.

This is the main ingredient in Norwegian fishballs (Fiskeboiler). Unlike the cod, the haddock is not a suitable fish for salting and is more affected by preservation by drying and smoking.

SeaFish

Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) Fish Profile