Little Cod
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Little Cod ( Trisopterus minutus ) |
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| Trisopterus minutus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The poor cod ( Trisopterus minutus ) is a marine fish of the family of cod (Gadidae). It occurs in the north-eastern Atlantic and some tributaries. Its distribution area extends from the Trondheimfjord on the coast of Central Norway and from the Faroe Islands to the coasts of Portugal and Morocco . It is also found throughout the North Sea , in the Skagerrak and Kattegatt , around the British Isles and in large parts of the Mediterranean .
features
The dwarf cod grows to a maximum of 40 centimeters long, but usually stays at a length of 20 to 25 centimeters. It has a typical cod shape with three thornless dorsal fins and two anal fins. It can be distinguished from the related and similar French cod by its slimmer shape. The anterior fin rays of the pelvic fins are slightly elongated. The upper jaw protrudes. The goatee is well developed, the length of the mouth corresponds to the diameter of the eye. The body is yellow-brown on top and lighter on the belly. A dark spot above the base of the pectoral fin is poorly developed. The anus lies below the rear end of the first dorsal fin.
Way of life
The little cod lives benthopelagically above the shelf , on muddy and sandy soils at depths of one to a maximum of 440 meters, usually between 15 and 250 meters, in the Mediterranean above 120 meters. It feeds on small fish and benthic invertebrates such as crustaceans , molluscs, and annelids . Little cod are sociable. The highest documented age is five years and they reach sexual maturity at one year. They spawn at depths of 50 to 100 meters, in the southern North Sea and the English Channel from February to April, in the Mediterranean from December to March. The eggs are pelagic and 1 mm in diameter. Larvae that have just hatched are 2 to 2.5 mm long. They grow very quickly, after a year the fish are on average 12 to 14 cm long, after two years 17 to 19 cm.
The dwarf cod is caught with trawls and used for fish meal production , in southern Europe also as food fish.
literature
- Bent J. Muus, Jørgen G. Nielsen: The marine fish of Europe in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Atlantic. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07804-3 .
Web links
- Little Cod on Fishbase.org (English)