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(vertebrate zoology)
A family of fishes in the order Gadiformes, including cod, haddock, pollock, and hake.



a family of fishes of the order Gadiformes. The fish have one to three dorsal fins and one or two anal fins. The scales are cycloid. The family has 21 genera, embracing 53 species of varying size. Gadikulus argentens and the arctic cod are small, while the haddock, navaga, and burbot are of medium size and the cod, ling, and pollack are large. Approximately 39 species inhabit temperate waters of the Atlantic. The Pacific and Arctic oceans have five species each, and the southern hemisphere has four species. Only one species, the burbot, lives in the fresh, cold waters of Europe, Asia, and North America, although the navaga enters fresh waters for feeding. In the USSR, the Gadidae are most abundant in the Barents Sea, but they are also found in the Black, Baltic, White, and Arctic seas and seas of the Far East.

Most Gadidae are bottom-dwelling school fishes that inhabit relatively shallow water, to depths of 800 m; however, there are a few pelagic species, such as the blue whiting Micromesistius australis, and some deep-sea species, such as the arctic cod. All large species are predators or euryphages. Several species migrate as far as several thousand kilometers to feed or spawn, for example, the cod and southern representatives of Micromesistius australis. Many are found in large groups. The female deposits between a few thousand and 60 million eggs, in the case of the cod and ling. In most species the eggs are pelagic, although in a few, such as the navaga and Pacific cod, they are benthic.

The Gadidae are very important commercially. The flesh is lean, containing only up to 1 percent fat; the fat, which is rich in vitamins A and D, accumulates in the liver.


(Fauna SSSR: Ryby, vol. 9, fasc. 4.) Andriiashev, A. P. Ryby severnykh morei SSSR. Moscow-Leningrad, 1954.


References in periodicals archive ?
Feature 5 had the highest frequency of Gadidae of any assemblage, with no Gadidae identified for the midden at Feature 2.
Feeding habits of Triscopterus minutes capelanus (Gadidae) of the Eastern coast of Spain (Western Mediterranean).
Identification level Taxa Total (lowest) Family level Bongo ISIIS Bongo ISIIS Clupeidae 1 3 2 3 Breuoortia tyrannus 1 0 Gadidae 3 13 3 13 Merlucciidae 0 0 48 44 Merluccius bilinearis 48 44 Phycidae 0 83 48 104 Urophycis spp.
Prey family or group Prey species Gadidae Unidentified gadid species Walleye Pollock Clupeidae Herring (2) American Shad (Aloca sapidissima) Salmonidae Juvenile Chinook Salmon Juvenile salmon species Adult Chinook Salmon Adult salmon species Cottidae Pacific Staghorn Sculpin Ammodytidae Pacific Sand Lance (3) Embiotocidae Shiner Perch Rajidae Skate species Scorpaenidae Juvenile rockfish species Adult rockfish species Biomass reconstruction estimates for prey of breeding seals No.
The eggs and larvae of the species Engraulis encrasicolus (Linnaeus, 1758) were found to be dominant in station 2 (outer bay), in contrast eggs of Gadidae and larvae of Melucciidae, Myctophidae and Syngnathidae were found to be at least in Izmir Bay.
Occurrence Species Common name (n = 78) Clupeidae Sardinops sagax Pacific sardine 4 Engraulidae Engraulis mordax Northern anchovy 52 23 Bathylagidae Blacksmelts 18 Chauliodontidae Chauliodus macouni Pacific viperfish 2 Gadidae Microgadus proximus Pacific tomcod 13 Lampridae Lampris guttatus Opah 1 Gasterosteidae Stickleback 1 Scorpaenidae Sebastes spp.
This is not unexpected because cod and haddock are in the same family, Gadidae, whereas the narrowest taxonomic group common to cod and plaice is the subdivision Euteleostei.
Because few fishes were observed, the three most abundant families (Hexagrammidae, Scorpaenidae, and Gadidae) were analyzed by family group.
0 0 1 Opisthonema oglinum 0 0 0 Sardinella aurita 0 0 0 Engraulidae Anchoa hepsetus 0 0 0 Anchoa mitchilli 0 0 4 Ariidae Arius felis 0 0 0 Bagre marinus 0 0 0 Synodontidae Synodus foetens 0 0 0 Gadidae Urophycis floridana 0 0 0 Batrachiodidae Opsanus beta 0 0 0 Ogcocephalidae Ogcocephalus radiatus 0 0 0 Exocoetidae Hyporhamphus meeki 0 0 0 Belonidae Strongylura marina 0 0 0 Atherinidae Membras martinica 0 10 0 Menidia spp.
Family Gadidae. In Bigelow and Shroeder's fishes of the Gulf of Maine III (B.