HADDOCK
Timeframe - Environment Conditions
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
The haddock's body is heavy, long and laterally
compressed. The head
is relatively large and its snout is
rounded. The mouth is small but
overhanging, it has one or two rows of teeth on
the lower jaw, and several
rows of teeth on the upper jaw. The eyes
are quite large. This fish has
24-27 gill rakers, and 3 dorsal fins. It
has small scales that are black in color.
The fish itself is dark purplish gray on the
back, and a lighter grey on the
sides turning almost white on the bottom. A
distinct mark on this fish is
the black thumbprint spot appearing just
above the pectoral fin.
COMMON NAMES
This fish is also known as Melanogrammus
aeglefins.
SWIMMING PATTERNS
This fish uses a series
of muscle contractions pushing forward in a
snakelike motion.
BREEDING & FEEDING HABITS
Spawning can take
place between January and July. Spawning concentrations
vary according to the the
population of fish, inshore spawning doesn't seem to
be that prevalent. There is
a lack of information on spawning behavior. It is
suggested that color
changes, sound production, and courtship are displayed
by the male.
These fish produce an
average of 228,000 eggs for fish 40cm long. Hatching
occurs when the fish are
3.0-4.0mm long. The larvae live near the surface of the
water. They feed
pelagically until they are over 25mm long and then begin
to form into adult
fish. When they get about 50mm long begin to seek
the bottom of the
ocean. These fish reach maturity at the age of
3-5 years.
Haddock are bottom feeders.
They like to feed on crustaceans, molluscs, starfish,
and fishes. They seem
to prefer fish such as sand lance, capelin, silver hake,
eels, and herring.
HABITAT
Haddock like cool
temperature waters. They live on the bottom of the ocean
floor usually over
hard, smooth sand or gravel. These fish form distinct
populations and do very
little intermingling between one another. There are
at least seven different
recognized populations: SW Newfoundland, Grand
Banks, St. Pierre Bank,
Emerald Bank, and the Eastern Gulf, Brown's Bank-SW
Nova Scotia, Georges
Bank, and the Gulf of Maine-Bay of Fundy. They are
separated by the deep
waters of the channels and by basins separating the
banks. Each population
differs in growth rate and spawning time.
GROWTH
During the first year of age
the haddock ranges in size between 6-16cm in length.
Fish that are
approximately 5 years of age range in the 40-50cm size. Some
haddock have been reported
to live as long as 15 years of age. The largest
haddock on record was 112cm
long and weighed 16.8kg.