Pacific cod

Pacific Cod
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Gadiformes
Family:	Gadidae
Genus:	Gadus
Species:	G. macrocephalus
Binomial name
Gadus macrocephalus Tilesius, 1810

The Pacific cod, Gadus macrocephalus, is an important commercial food species. It is also known as gray cod or grey cod, and grayfish or greyfish. It has three separate dorsal fins, and the catfish-like whiskers on its lower jaw. In appearance, it is similar to the Atlantic cod. A bottom dweller, it is found mainly along the continental shelf and upper slopes with a range around the rim of the North Pacific Ocean, from the Yellow Sea to the Bering Strait, along the Aleutian Islands, and south to about Los Angeles, down to the depths of 900 meters. May grow up to 48–49 cm and weigh up to 15 kg. It is found in huge schools. In Northwest Pacific catches of Pacific cod by the United States trawl fishery and joint-venture fisheries increased from less than 1,000 t in 1979 to nearly 91,000 t in 1984 and reached 430,196 t in 1995. Today, catches are tightly regulated and the Pacific cod quota is split among fisheries that use hook and line gear, pots, and bottom trawls.

See also

• Cod
• Cod Wars

References

• "Gadus macrocephalus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=164711. Retrieved 19 March 2006. 
• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2005). "Gadus macrocephalus" in FishBase. November 2005 version.