Haddock

(Melanogrammus aeglefinus)

Size: Rarely more than 80 cm .

Biology: The haddock is a cod fish and easy to recognize by the big, black spot beneath the dorsal fin. You’ll find the haddock on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and in east from Portugal north to Novaja Zemlja. The haddock is a bottom fish most common on depths between 40 - 300 meters. The haddocks gather on spawning grounds uses by other species. The reason is simple: Eating roe. The haddock also eat other animals on the bottom, shrimps, small fishes and squids. The most important spawning grounds for the haddock are found west of Norway, south west of Iceland, near the Faroe Islands and in The North Sea.

Sea fishing: There are no special season for fishing haddock. It can be caught on deep waters at any time of the year. The haddock is an important fish for the Norwegian fishermen.     

Haddock in the Barents Sea: There is a separate stock of Haddock in the north. On the map to the right you can see the spawning grounds (red) and the distribution off the Norwegian coast and north to the Barents Sea.

To determent the haddocks age, the scientists use otoliths (ear stones)

Polished ear stone (otolitt) from haddock. The rings indicate the age (one black ring = one winter). Photo: Alsvåg og Mjanger, The Norwegian Institute for Marine Research

Haddock

Distribution in The North Sea

Distribution in The Barents Sea

 Fishing in Norway