The common ling (''Molva molva''), also known as the white ling or simply the ling, is a large member of the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Lotidae, a group of cod-like fishes. It resembles the related rocklings, but it is much larger and has a single barbel. This species is unrelated to the pink ling, ''
Genypterus blacodes
The pink cusk-eel, ''Genypterus blacodes'', is a demersal species of cusk-eel found in the oceans around southern Australia, Chile, Brazil, and around New Zealand except the east coast of Northland, in depths of . Their length is up to , and th ...
'', from the Southern Hemisphere. The common ling is found in the northern Atlantic, mainly off Europe, and into the Mediterranean Basin. It is an important quarry species for fisheries, especially in the northeastern Atlantic, although some doubts exist as to the sustainability of the fisheries. As an edible species, it is eaten fresh, frozen, or dried, but also preserved in lye, while the roe is a delicacy in Spain.
Description
The common ling is the longest and one of the largest of the cod-like fish, the Gadiformes, which can reach lengths of 200 cm and weights of 30 kg. It is long and slender with a small head and small eyes and a large mouth, which has large teeth, with the upper jaw projecting beyond the lower jaw, which bears an obvious sensory barbel. Of the two dorsal fins, the anterior dorsal fin is short, having 14–15 fin rays, with a rounded profile, while the posterior dorsal fin is much longer with 61–68 fin rays and is uniform in height and is similar in length to the anal fin. The
anal fin
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...
is also elongated and has 58-64 fin rays. The
vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characterist ...
l count of this species is between 63 and 65 vertebrae. The
caudal peduncle
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...
and the pelvic fins are short, with the pelvic fin not reaching past the
pectoral fin
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...
s. The dorsum is a marbled greenish-brown, sometimes reddish-brown on the most upper part, lightening on the flanks and underside. A distinct white edge is seen on the anal and dorsal fins and they have a dark spot at their posterior end. However, the spot on the anterior dorsal fin is more conspicuous than that on the posterior dorsal fin. The juvenile fish tend to be lighter in colour than adults and are often marked with pale purplish
iridescent
Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfl ...
lines. A common ling measuring in length was caught off
Shetland
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the ...
on 24 February 2013. This is the largest ling ever caught on rod and line in British waters.
Distribution
The common ling is a North Atlantic species found in the further eastern coast of Canada, southern Greenland, Iceland, and the north-eastern Atlantic from the
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian ter ...
, around the coasts of the UK, becoming scarcer towards the south, and north-western Europe, south to the
Straits of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...
and into the north-western coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. It is rare in the Mediterranean and in the North Sea, where it occurs as far east as the
Skagerrak
The Skagerrak (, , ) is a strait running between the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, the southeast coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area through the Danish Straits to the Baltic Sea.
T ...
and
Kattegat
The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in S ...
.
Habitat and biology
The common ling is a
demersal
The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a laye ...
species that can be found over rocky substrates from 15 to 600 m or more in depth; it is most common between 100 and 400 m. The juveniles, less than 2 years old, are coastal, occurring in depths of 15–20 m, and
pelagic
The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or w ...
; at 3 years, they migrate to deeper areas. Sexual maturity is attained at 5 years for males, at a length of around 80 cm and 5 or 6 years for females when they are between 90 and 100 cm in length. The spawning period runs from March to July and the eggs and larvae are pelagic. Each female may carry 20 to 60 million eggs. The main spawning areas are found at depths of 200 m from the
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...
to the
Norwegian Sea
The Norwegian Sea ( no, Norskehavet; is, Noregshaf; fo, Norskahavið) is a marginal sea, grouped with either the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to ...
, at depths of 100 to 300 m off southern Iceland, and at 50 to 300 m in the Mediterranean Sea. They grow rapidly, gaining 8–10 cm in length per year, a 1-year-old fish has a typical length of 20 cm, 2-year-olds 31–35 cm. The females grow at a faster rate than the males. The maximum recorded lifespan is 10 years for males and 14 for females, at which age they attain a length around 200 cm.
Common ling is mainly a solitary and benthic species, which hides among rocks, crevices, and wrecks in deep water, although they are often free swimming in deep water. They are mainly piscivorous and their main prey include species such as '' Trisopterus esmarkii'',
Atlantic cod
The Atlantic cod (''Gadus morhua'') is a benthopelagic fish of the family Gadidae, widely consumed by humans. It is also commercially known as cod or codling.Atlantic herring, and flatfish, but they also feed on crustaceans (e.g. European lobsters), cephalopods, and
echinoderms
An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the ...
The ling is edible; it is marketed in fresh, salted, or dried forms, and used as fishmeal. The salted roe of the ling is considered a delicacy in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
and is known as ''huevas de maruca''. Ling can be made into '' lutefisk''. The common ling is targeted by commercial fisheries using trawls, although long lines are used in some mainland European- and Faroese-based fisheries. 702 pp This is a deep-water species and its swim bladder is badly damaged by being brought up to the surface from the depths; the advice for sport anglers is, therefore, that boat-caught ling should not be returned to the sea and that they should stop fishing when enough have been caught for the table. The stock is thought to be reasonably good, but the IUCN has stated that no data are available on the population size or any population trends, that the population in the Mediterranean Sea may be marginal, with the major portion of its global range in the Atlantic. So, no data are available to allow a determination the status of the ling beyond data deficient. Ling is regarded as a "fish to avoid" for consumers by the Marine Conservation Society because it is trawled. In 1999, the total catch of common ling reported to the
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
was 53,870 tonnes and the countries with the largest landings were Norway with 19,215 tonnes and the United Kingdom with 11,350 tonnes.