''Arctogadus glacialis'', known also with ambiguous common names Arctic cod and polar cod, is an

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

species of fish in the cod

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Gadidae The Gadidae are a family of marine fish, included in the order Gadiformes, known as the cods, codfishes, or true cods. It contains several commercially important fishes, including the cod, haddock, whiting, and pollock. Most gadid species ar ...

, related to the true

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

(genus ''Gadus''). ''Arctogadus glacialis'' is found in icy water. They grow to about 30 cm long, and are favorite food of

narwhals The narwhal (''Monodon monoceros'') is a species of toothed whale native to the Arctic. It is the only member of the genus ''Monodon'' and one of two living representatives of the family Monodontidae. The narwhal is a stocky cetacean with a ...

and other arctic whales.

Common names and taxonomy

The common names "Arctic cod" and "polar cod" can refer to either ''Arctogadus glacialis'' or '' Boreogadus saida'', and "Arctic cod" may also refer to '' Eleginus nawaga''. Another Arctic gadid, the East Siberian cod (''Arctogadus borisovi''), was until recently considered the closest relative of ''A. glacialis''. It has, however, been found not to be distinct from ''A. glacialis'', and should be included in this species. According to this result, ''Arctogadus'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus. However, ''Arctogadus'' is a close relative of ''

Boreogadus ''Boreogadus saida'', known as the polar cod or as the Arctic cod, is a fish of the cod Family (biology), family Gadidae, related to the true cod (genus ''Gadus''). Another fish species for which both the common names Arctic cod and polar cod a ...

'', and should perhaps be included in that genus.

Appearance

Arctic cod have been cited to grow up to in

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

. It has been distinguished from other cod species by its lack of the chin

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprini ...

. Populations of Arctic cod previously referred to the East Siberian cod however do have a chin barbel and grow up to 50–60 cm length.Toothed cod, ''Arctogadus borisovi''
Canada's Polar Life Portal, University of Guelph (2002)

Distribution

The Arctic cod is widely distributed in the western part of the Arctic basin and the northwest and northeast coasts of

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. Its range is between 85° and 72°N

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

. Arctic cod can be found at depths of up to 1000 m, and frequently under ice. Fish earlier attributed to the East Siberian cod are found off the western half of the coast of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and the coasts of

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

and also off the northern and southern coasts of

. The fish lives close to the sea floor at depths of 15 to 40 m, but it sometimes enters estuaries, and may also be found under pack ice. The species is of minor commercial value.

Diet

''A. glacialis'' in an ice-free area off northeastern Greenland were found to feed almost exclusively on pelagic prey (primarily

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

amphipod Amphipoda () is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods () range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 10,700 amphipod species cur ...

s, and

mysid Mysida is an order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The fact that the larvae are reared in thi ...

s).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arctic Cod Gadidae Monotypic marine fish genera Monotypic ray-finned fish genera Fish of the Arctic Ocean Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fish of Europe