The Gadidae are a family of marine fish, included in the order

Gadiformes Gadiformes , also called the Anacanthini, are an order of ray-finned fish that include the cod, hakes, pollock, haddock, burbot, rocklings and moras, many of which are food fish of major commercial value. They are mostly marine fish found thr ...

, known as the cods, codfishes, or true cods. It contains several commercially important fishes, including the

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

haddock The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the Family (biology), family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the Monotypy, monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Oce ...

, whiting, and

pollock Pollock or pollack (pronounced ) is the common name used for either of the two species of North Atlantic ocean, marine fish in the genus ''Pollachius''. ''Pollachius pollachius'' is referred to as "pollock" in North America, Ireland and the Unit ...

. Most gadid species are found in temperate waters of the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

, but several range into subtropical,

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia, Siberia, and the Cair ...

, and

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

oceans, and a single (

southern blue whiting The southern blue whiting (''Micromesistius australis'') is a codfish of the genus '' Micromesistius'', found in the southern oceans with temperatures between 3 and 7 °C, at depths of 50 to 900 m. Its length is commonly between 30 and 60&nb ...

) is found in the Southern Hemisphere. They are generally medium-sized fish, and are distinguished by the presence of three

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

s on the back and two

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

s on the underside. Most species have

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprini ...

s on their chins, which they use while browsing on the sea floor. Gadids are carnivorous, feeding on smaller fish and

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s. Gadids are highly prolific, producing several million eggs at each spawning. This contributes to their high population numbers, which, in turn, makes

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

relatively easy. Concepts differ about the contents of the family Gadidae. The system followed by

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

includes a dozen genera. Alternatively, fishes in the current

Lotidae The Lotidae are a family of cod-like fishes commonly known as lings or rocklings. They are found in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. Except for a few species of '' Gaidropsarus'', all are restricted to the Northern Hemisphere. All spe ...

(with

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota''), also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, or eelpout, is a species of coldwater ray-finned fish native to the subarctic regions of ...

, cusk) and

Phycidae The phycidae are a family of hakes in the order Gadiformes. They are native to the Atlantic Ocean, but the juveniles of some species enter estuaries. Sometimes this family is classified as the subfamily Phycinae of the cod family, Gadidae Th ...

(hakes) have also been included in the Gadidae, as its subfamilies Lotinae and Phycinae.Nelson, J. S. 2006.

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

, 4th edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

References

External links

* * Euteleostei families Extant Oligocene first appearances Marine fish families Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque {{gadiformes-stub

See also

References

External links