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615 Featured Specimen
Blue whiting

Details

Blue whiting

Micromesistius poutassou

Size
20–50 cm · 80–800 g
Diet
Carnivore
Activity
Cathemeral
Sociality
Herd
Lifespan

A small gadid that forms enormous midwater schools in the northeastern Atlantic and is widely used for fish meal and processing.

Range

Habitat range map
Native range Occasional / Transient
Atlantic OceanAtlantic OceanAtlantic OceanAtlantic OceanAtlantic OceanPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearcticPalearctic

Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)

Details

Habitat

Common along northeastern Atlantic slopes, the Norwegian Sea, and waters around Iceland, mostly offshore in midwater and deeper layers.

Appearance

The body is slender and silvery with a bluish back. It is small for a cod relative, with no obvious chin barbel.

Behavior

Huge schools migrate offshore, shifting depth between day and night and gathering in spawning areas seasonally.

Feeding

It eats krill, copepods, and small fish, exploiting plankton-rich midwater layers.

Reproduction

Spawning is concentrated near continental slopes, mainly in spring. Eggs and larvae drift widely with currents.

Notes

Blue whiting supports major reduction and processing fisheries and is prey for seabirds and larger fish in the North Atlantic.