Haddock

Where it lives

Haddock inhabit cool waters across the North Atlantic from Iceland and northern Norway to Cape Hatteras. They favor depths of 80 to 200 m over sand, gravel, or broken-shell bottoms; they do not enter the brackish or shallow waters that some cod tolerate.

How to recognise it

The dark, indistinct lateral line and a dark blotch above each pectoral fin — the “St. Peter’s thumbprint” — are the easy field marks. The body is slate-gray above and silvery below, with no chin barbel beyond a small protrusion. Three dorsal fins, the first triangular and notably tall.

Diet & behavior

A bottom-feeder that takes brittle stars, polychaetes, mollusks, crustaceans, and capelin, plus enormous quantities of herring eggs during spawning runs. Haddock form large schools and spawn pelagically in spring on offshore banks.

Fisheries & Conservation

Listed as Vulnerable. North Sea and Georges Bank haddock are slowly recovering under managed quotas after severe historical depletion.