| Cusk | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Gadiformes |
| Family: | Lotidae |
| Genus: | Brosme Oken (ex Cuvier), 1817 |
| Species: | B. brosme |
| Binomial name | |
| Brosme brosme (Ascanius, 1772) | |
 | |
| Distribution of cusk (in blue) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The cusk (Brosme brosme) is a North Atlantic cod-like fish in the ling family Lotidae. It is the only species in the genus Brosme. [1] Its other common names include European cusk, and brosmius. [2]
It is easily distinguished at a glance from other cod-like fish, as it has only one dorsal fin. Also characteristic of the fish is the nature of its dorsal, caudal, and anal fins; they are continuous at the base, but separated by very deep notches so that they are obviously distinct. Moreover, the caudal fin is evenly rounded. It is variable in color, from slate to reddish brown above, and paling to gray on the lower sides and underneath. Older fish are usually plain-colored, while the young often have transverse yellow bands on their sides. Their maximum length is about 4 ft (120 cm) and top weight is about 45 lb (20 kg). The IGFA world record stands at 37 lb 14 oz (17,20 kg), caught by Anders Jonasson outside Sørøya in northern Norway.
It is distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic, mostly in moderately deep water. On the North American coast, it is regularly found southward to Cape Cod and occasionally off New Jersey. Its maximum range covers most of the North Atlantic, including the waters around Iceland and the Norwegian coast. [1] It is also found on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. [3]
Cusk show little genetic differentiation over large distances, except where populations are surrounded by deep-water areas, namely on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Rockall Bank. This suggests deep-water areas are barriers for adult movements, and though they have pelagic eggs and larvae, dispersal during early life stages is not effective over long distances. [3]
It is normally found in water deeper than 600 ft (200 m), and practically always is taken over rough bottoms where rocks, ledges, or gravel are common. Good fishing areas are usually much more limited than is the case with cod, haddock, or pollock. It is an offshore fish and rarely is one taken in a harbor.
It should not be confused with the burbot, which is also called the "freshwater cusk", of a different Lotidae genus.
Like many other marine animals, the cusk is directly affected by pollution. A specific pollutant that affects them is inorganic mercury (Hg). Within aquatic ecosystems, mercury can get converted to methylmercury (MeHg), which is one of the most toxic species of mercury compounds. MeHg is subject to biomagnification and bioaccumulation within marine food webs. [4] [5] Cusk are a food source for many other organisms, so the toxins they accumulate over time directly affect any other organism that consumes them, including humans.
Studies conducted in Western Norway, Central Europe, and the Mediterranean have shown that mercury concentrations within fish are highest in wild-marine fish, which sometimes exceed food-safety guidelines of 500 μg/kg, whereas wild-freshwater and farmed fish have less mercury within their system. [5] This is probably due to the fact that most mercury first enters rivers from inland sources and then accumulates in marine environments where the cusk live. In addition to this, it has also been shown that mercury concentrations are higher within fjords rather than coastal and open areas. This is likely due to the morphology of the fjords, or to local human activity. [4]
It spawns in the spring and summer, usually between April and early July. A medium-sized female has been known to produce more than two million buoyant eggs. The young live near the surface until they are about 2 in (5 cm) long, and then seek out rocky ocean floors in deep water.
It is strictly a bottom-dwelling species, and is sluggish and a rather weak swimmer. It eats crustaceans and other soft-bodied invertebrates and mollusks.
Cusk are primarily fished on the North American North Atlantic coastal shelf near the American state of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes.
In the Gulf of Maine, cusk are chiefly taken on hook and line. Line trawls account for most of the commercial catch off the New England coast, and most of them are caught during the winter and spring. The commercial catch individuals run between 1 and 2 feet long (30–60 cm), and average about 5 lb (2 kg). It is an excellent food fish. It is marketed as fresh or frozen fillets; a part of the catch is smoked.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) considers this species endangered based on a 2012 Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada assessment. [6] The status report identified that catches of cusk in the DFO summer bottom-trawl survey had declined by roughly 90% from 1970 to the late 1990s. [7] A landings limit of 1000 mt was put in place in 1999 in the 4X North American Fisheries Organization area and was further restricted to 750 t and expanded to include the 4VWX5Z NAFO areas in 2003. Cusk are still commonly caught as bycatch in the longline and lobster fisheries and can be found in supermarkets in Atlantic Canada despite its threatened status. A study that was conducted in the Gulf of Maine region showed that the conservation status of cusk was partly dependent on future greenhouse gas emissions. Higher emissions showed greater habitat reduction, as much as 80% by the end of the century. [8]
Cusk is a US National Marine Fisheries Service species of concern, which are those species about which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, has some concerns regarding its conservation status and current threats, but for which insufficient information is available to indicate a need to list the species under the Endangered Species Act. On March 9, 2007, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced the initiation of a status review to determine whether the species warrants listing under the act. [9]
The Atlantic cod is a fish of the family Gadidae, widely consumed by humans. It is also commercially known as cod or codling.
The burbot, also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, or eelpout, is a species of coldwater ray-finned fish native to the subarctic regions of the Northern hemisphere. It is the only member of the genus Lota, and is the only freshwater species of the order Gadiformes. The species is closely related to marine fish such as the common ling and cusk, all of which belong to the family Lotidae (rocklings).
The Pacific cod is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Gadidae. It is a bottom-dwelling fish found in the northern Pacific Ocean, mainly on the continental shelf and upper slopes, to depths of about 900 m (3,000 ft). It can grow to a length of a meter or so and is found in large schools. It is an important commercial food species and is also known as gray cod or grey cod, and grayfish or greyfish. Fishing for this species is regulated with quotas being allotted for hook and line fishing, pots, and bottom trawls. Fossils have been found in Canada near a Steller Sea lion fossil dating to the Pleistocene.
The sablefish is one of two members of the fish family Anoplopomatidae and the only species in the genus Anoplopoma. In English, common names for it include sable (US), butterfish (US), black cod, blue cod (UK), bluefish (UK), candlefish (UK), coal cod (UK), snowfish, coalfish (Canada), beshow, and skil (Canada), although many of these names also refer to other, unrelated, species. The US Food and Drug Administration accepts only "sablefish" as the acceptable market name in the United States; "black cod" is considered a vernacular (regional) name and should not be used as a statement of identity for this species. The sablefish is found in muddy sea beds in the North Pacific Ocean at depths of 300 to 2,700 m and is commercially important to Japan.
The eulachon, or the candlefish, is a small anadromous species of smelt that spawns in some of the major river systems along the Pacific coast of North America from northern California to Alaska.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada is a department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and scientific interests in oceans and inland waters. Its mandate includes responsibility for the conservation and sustainable use of Canada's fisheries resources while continuing to provide safe, effective and environmentally sound marine services that are responsive to the needs of Canadians in a global economy.
The Atlantic salmon is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into it. Most populations are anadromous, hatching in streams and rivers but moving out to sea as they grow where they mature, after which the adults seasonally move upstream again to spawn.
The Cumberland Sound belugas are a distinct population of belugas residing in the Cumberland Sound region of the Labrador Sea off the coast of Nunavut, Canada Individuals of this population reside in the sound year-round, congregating in its extreme north exclusively at Clearwater Fjord during the summer for calving. The Cumberland Sound beluga population is considered fairly isolated and genetically distinct from other beluga populations, with a notable number of haplotypes and microsatellite loci not found elsewhere.
The common ling, also known as the white ling or simply the ling, is a large member of the family Lotidae, a group of cod-like fishes. It resembles the related rocklings, but it is much larger and has a single barbel. This species is unrelated to the pink ling, Genypterus blacodes, from the Southern Hemisphere. The common ling is found in the northern Atlantic, mainly off Europe, and into the Mediterranean Basin. It is an important quarry species for fisheries, especially in the northeastern Atlantic, although some doubts exist as to the sustainability of the fisheries. As an edible species, it is eaten fresh, frozen, or dried, but also preserved in lye, while the roe is a delicacy in Spain.
The Atlantic halibut is a flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. They are demersal fish living on or near sand, gravel or clay bottoms at depths of between 50 and 2,000 m. The halibut is among the largest teleost (bony) fish in the world, and is a threatened species owing to a slow rate of growth and overfishing. Halibut are strong swimmers and are able to migrate long distances. Halibut size is not age-specific, but rather tends to follow a cycle related to halibut abundance.
The northern wolffish, also known as the blue sea cat or jelly cat, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Anarhichadidae, the wolf fishes. This species is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean.
Canada's fishing industry is a key contributor to the success of the Canadian economy. In 2018, Canada's fishing industry was worth $36.1 billion in fish and seafood products and employed approximately 300,000 people. Aquaculture, which is the farming of fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants in fresh or salt water, is the fastest growing food production activity in the world and a growing sector in Canada. In 2015, aquaculture generated over $1 billion in GDP and close to $3 billion in total economic activity. The Department Of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) oversees the management of Canada's aquatic resources and works with fishermen across the country to ensure the sustainability of Canada's oceans and in-land fisheries.
This page is a list of fishing topics.
In 1992, Northern Cod populations fell to 1% of historical levels, due in large part to decades of overfishing. The Canadian Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, John Crosbie, declared a moratorium on the Northern Cod fishery, which for the preceding 500 years had primarily shaped the lives and communities of Canada's eastern coast. A significant factor contributing to the depletion of the cod stocks off Newfoundland's shores was the introduction of equipment and technology that increased landed fish volume. From the 1950s onwards, new technology allowed fishers to trawl a larger area, fish more in-depth, and for a longer time, with the catches peaking in the 1970s and 1980s. Cod stocks were depleted at a faster rate than could be replenished.
Cod fisheries are fisheries for cod. Cod is the common name for fish of the genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and this article is confined to three species that belong to this genus: the Atlantic cod, the Pacific cod and the Greenland cod. Although there is a fourth species of the cod genus Gadus, Alaska pollock, it is commonly not called cod and therefore currently not covered here.
The carmine shiner is a freshwater fish species. In Manitoba, it was once known as the rosyface shiner. Based mostly on zoogeographic data, it is currently classified as a distinct species within the rosyface shiner species complex. The carmine shiner is a member of the Minnow family, Cyprinidae. It has the following characteristics and distinguishing features:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fisheries:
Saltwater fish, also called marine fish or sea fish, are fish that live in seawater. Saltwater fish can swim and live alone or in a large group called a school.
Sebastes reedi the yellowmouth rockfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. It is found in the Eastern Pacific.