Haddock
Melanogrammus aeglefinus
Also known as: Pinwiddie, Smokie
About This Species
This bottom-dwelling groundfish lives over sand and gravel seabeds on the continental shelf of the North Atlantic, where it feeds on invertebrates and small fish, and is far more often encountered through fisheries surveys and commercial catch than through direct observation, since it does not come to shallow or shore-accessible water in any predictable way. Distinctive features include a dark lateral line and a black thumbprint-like mark behind the gills, useful for identification in survey or catch photographs. There is no viewing season in the usual sense, since sighting it alive in its natural habitat requires research trawls or diving on offshore banks.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Given its vulnerable IUCN status, this species should be treated with particular caution wherever it is encountered, including handling minimal, timely release of any incidental catch and avoiding any activity that adds further pressure to already depleted stocks.
- Fisheries quotas and management measures for haddock differ substantially between North American and European jurisdictions and are set through separate regional bodies, so no single catch limit or rule applies across its whole range.
- Where there is any doubt about current regulations in a given area, deferring to the most conservative recreational or commercial guidance available is the responsible default for a vulnerable stock.
Seasonal Activity
630,728 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- NaN
- Order
- Gadiformes
- Family
- Gadidae
Photo
(c) Biopix, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.