Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) >
Perciformes (Perch-likes) >
Anarhichadidae (Wolffishes)
Etymology: Anarhichas: Greek, anarhichaomai = to climb up. More on author: Linnaeus.
Environment / Climate / Range
Ecology
Marine; demersal; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 1 - 600 m (Ref. 58426), usually 18 - 110 m (Ref. 7135). Temperate; 79°N - 37°N, 75°W - 56°E (Ref. 54281)
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?, range 50 - 60 cm
Max length : 150 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 7251); max. published weight: 23.6 kg (Ref. 40637)
Ground color usually greyish-green but almost black or reddish -brown. Body with 10-15 transverse, dark bars extended to the dorsal fin (Ref. 35388).
Northeast Atlantic: Spitsbergen southward to White Sea, Scandinavian coasts, North Sea, the British Isles, also Iceland and south-eastern coasts of Greenland. Northwest Atlantic: southern Labrador in Canada and western Greenland to Cape Cod in Massachusetts, USA; rarely to New Jersey, USA (Ref. 7251). Elsewhere in the Baltic Sea (east to Rügen and Bornholm Islands), Bay of Biscay and northwestern Mediterranean (Gulf of Genoa) (Ref. 57932).
Inhabit rocky bottoms, sometimes over sand or mud, from 1-500 m (Ref. 9988). Benthic (Ref. 58426). Feeds on fishes (Ref. 58426), hard-shelled mollusks, crabs, lobsters, sea urchins and other echinoderms. Solitary in habit (Ref. 9988). Marketed fresh and frozen; eaten steamed, fried, broiled, boiled, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988).
Barsukov, V.V., 1986. Anarhichadidae. p. 1113-1116. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. volume 3. UNESCO, Paris.
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: highly commercial; aquaculture: experimental; gamefish: yes; aquarium: public aquariums
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Estimates of some properties based on empirical models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82805): PD
50 = 0.5938 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00346 (-0.10205 - 0.10897), b=3.22 (3.15 - 3.29), based on LWR estimates for species & family-BS (Ref.
93245).
Trophic Level (Ref.
69278): 3.2 ±0.4 se; Based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref.
69278): Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.04-0.1; tm=6-7; Fec=12,740-25,000).
Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): High to very high vulnerability (67 of 100) .