Saithe (Pollachius virens)

Scientific name: Pollachius virens Linnaeus, 1758

Saithe (Pollachius virens)

The Saithe (Pollachius virens) is a marine fish of the family Gadidae.

Biology

An active, gregarious fish occurring inshore and offshore waters. Usually enters coastal waters in spring and returns to deeper waters in winter. Smaller fish in inshore waters feed on small crustaceans (copepods, amphipods, euphausiids) and small fish, while larger fish prey predominantly upon fishes. Spawn in batches. Utilized fresh, dried or salted, smoked, canned and frozen; eaten steamed, fried, broiled, boiled, microwaved and baked.

Source: FishBase, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Species facts

Scientific name
Pollachius virens
Family
Gadidae (Cods and haddocks)
Order
Gadiformes (Cods)
Class
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Maximum length
130
Common length
60.0
Depth range
37–364 m (121–1194 ft)
Environment
Marine; demersal; oceanodromous; depth range 37 - 364 m
Climate
Temperate
Distribution
Eastern Atlantic: Barents Sea, Spitsbergen to Bay of Biscay, around Iceland. Western Atlantic: southwest Greenland, Hudson Strait to North Carolina, although rare at the extremes of the range. Migrations for spawning are known to occur. Also long-distance north-south migrations for Europe and the US.
Conservation status (IUCN)
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Harmless
Uses
Fisheries: highly commercial; gamefish: yes
Resilience
Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (rm=0.55-0.87; K=0.07-0.17; tm=2-10; tmax=25; Fec=220,000)

Sources

Taxonomy, distribution and biology data: FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds.), licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

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