Pollachius pollachius, Pollack : fisheries, gamefish
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Pollachius pollachius (Linnaeus, 1758)

Pollack
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Pollachius pollachius   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Pollachius pollachius
Picture by Ueberschär, B.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Gadiformes (Cods) > Gadidae (Cods and haddocks)
Etymology: Pollachius: Scottish dialect, podlock, paddle = bumpfish (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; benthopelagic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 40 - 200 m (Ref. 6302), usually 40 - 100 m (Ref. 54707). Temperate; 72°N - 36°N, 25°W - 28°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Northeast Atlantic: Iceland, the Faeroes and Norway to the Bay of Biscay (Ref. 1371); also southern Baltic Sea (Ref. 89342) with records from Poland, Latvia and Estonia (Refs. 36252, 52079).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 41.0, range 42 - ? cm
Max length : 130 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1371); common length : 75.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1371); max. published weight: 18.1 kg (Ref. 40637); max. reported age: 8 years (Ref. 1371)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 29-33; Anal soft rays: 27 - 30; Vertebrae: 52 - 55. Lower jaw distinctly projecting beyond upper ones. Lacks a chin barbel. Dark lateral line that sharply curves over the pectoral fin and continues over whole body. No dark spot at pectoral fin base. Dorsal and anal fin interspaces short. Sensory canals with large pores on head. Body color is variable; dark dorsally, sharply distinguished from silver-gray sides and belly; the upper part of the body with yellow to orange streaks or blotches; the lateral line greenish. The fins uniformly dark except for the pelvic fins which are yellowish.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found in inshore waters but also down to 200 m depth, in areas with hard bottoms. Juveniles are pelagic, spending 2-3 years near the coast including rocky areas, kelp beds, sandy shores and estuaries (Ref. 1371, 58137, 89343, 89362). Juveniles may form schools with saithe (Pollachius virens) (Ref. 88187), and have also been found solitary and defending their feeding territory (Refs. 42174, 89363). Larger individuals move to the open sea and are often found around rocky areas at 40-100 m depth (Ref. 1371). Also observed around shipwrecks and oil platforms (Ref. 88187). Adults occur singly or in small dispersed shoals but is known to form dense shoals on spawning grounds (Ref. 89364). Suggested to undertake spawning migrations (Ref. 88171). Caught as bycatch in cod and saithe fisheries. Flesh is dry but of good flavor (Ref. 35388). Classified as a "hearing generalist" (89365); has also been found to produce sound. Juveniles have been reported to make repeated short grunts during competitive feeding and aggressive encounters (89366).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Oviparous and gonochorous (Ref. 205).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Cohen, D.M., T. Inada, T. Iwamoto and N. Scialabba, 1990. FAO species catalogue. Vol. 10. Gadiform fishes of the world (Order Gadiformes). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cods, hakes, grenadiers and other gadiform fishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(10). Rome: FAO. 442 p. (Ref. 1371)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 16 October 2013

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO - Aquaculture: production; Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | FAO - Aquaculture: production; Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 7 - 11.9, mean 8.9 °C (based on 283 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.7500   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00708 (0.00603 - 0.00831), b=3.08 (3.04 - 3.12), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.3   ±0.3 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 5.9 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.19; tmax=8).
Prior r = 0.63, 95% CL = 0.42 - 0.95, Based on 3 stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High vulnerability (59 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Very high vulnerability (82 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Low.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 8.53 [3.62, 29.51] mg/100g; Iron = 0.222 [0.085, 0.575] mg/100g; Protein = 17.7 [15.7, 19.8] %; Omega3 = 0.544 [0.279, 1.082] g/100g; Selenium = 25.4 [8.6, 76.9] μg/100g; VitaminA = 17.8 [4.6, 71.0] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.401 [0.206, 0.797] mg/100g (wet weight);