The northern wolffish (''Anarhichas denticulatus''), also known as the blue sea cat or jelly cat, is a species of marine
ray-finned fish
Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species.
The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...
belonging to the family
Anarhichadidae
Anarhichadidae, the wolffishes, sea wolves or wolf eels, is a family of marine ray finned fishes belonging to the order Scorpaeniformes. These are predatory, eel shaped fishes which are native to the cold waters of the Arctic, North Pacific and ...
, the wolf fishes. This species is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...
.
Taxonomy
The Northern wolffish was first formally
described in 1845 by the Danish
zoologist
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
Henrik Nikolai Krøyer
Henrik Nikolai Krøyer (22 March 1799 – 14 November 1870) was a Denmark, Danish zoologist.
Born in Copenhagen, he was a brother of the composer Hans Ernst Krøyer. He started studying medicine at the University of Copenhagen in 1817, which he ...
with the type locality given as Greenland.
The specific name means "denticulated" or "having fine teeth" alluding to the sharper, more finely pointed teeth of this species in comparison to the
Atlantic wolffish
The Atlantic wolffish (''Anarhichas lupus''), also known as the seawolf, Atlantic catfish, ocean catfish, devil fish, wolf eel (the common name for its Pacific relative), woof or sea cat, is a marine fish of the wolffish family Anarhichadidae, n ...
(''A. lupus'').
Description
The northern wolffish is a robust, elongate fish with a large head, sharp snout and small eyes. The teeth are distinctive and prominent with large canine-like teeth to the front of the jaws and molar-like teeth at the back of the jaws. It does not have any
pelvic fin
Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods.
Structure and function Structure
In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two en ...
s. The overall colour of the body is greyish to dark brown with a pale purplish sheen and there are frequently marked with many but vague dark bars or spotting.
The tissue of the muscles is soft and resembles jelly. The
vomerine teeth
The vomer (; lat, vomer, lit=ploughshare) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxill ...
are large, and may be rounded or pointed and extend back to the line of
palatine teeth. The
caudal fin
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...
is truncate and contains between 18 and 22 fin rays.
The maximum published
total length
Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology.
Overall length
* Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...
is and the maximum published weight is .
[
]
Distribution and habitat
The Northern wolffish is found in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans where it is distributed in the Barents Barents may refer to:
*René Barents (born 1951), Dutch judge and legal scholar
*Willem Barents (c. 1550–1597), Dutch navigator and explorer
*Barents AirLink, a Swedish airline
*Barents Island (), an island in the Svalbard archipelago, part of ...
and Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
*Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
*Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including the ...
seas to Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...
, Iceland,
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
, southern Greenland and south along east coast of North America almost to Cape Cod and west to Prince Patrick Island
A member of the Arctic Archipelago, Prince Patrick Island is the westernmost of the Queen Elizabeth Islands in the Northwest Territories of Canada, lying northwest of Melville Island. The area of Prince Patrick Island is , making it the 55th ...
in the Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
of Canada. They have been reported from the northern North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
and the Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...
.[
This species inhabits the open areas of the North Atlantic and the offshore region of the continental shelf occurring in bathypelagic waters and has been recorded at a depth of , the deepest any wolffish has been recorded at, living mainly in the freeof the substrate in the water column and occasionally moving up to the surface,]
Biology
Northern wolffish use large rocks for shelter and nest building. Late in the year, females lay about 46,500 large eggs (up to in diameter) which sink to the sea floor, where they are guarded in nests by the males until they hatch. Growth rates are slow, and they mature at five years or older. Their lifespans are at least 12 years. Unlike other wolffishes, northerns have been found off the bottom during both the juvenile and adult stages. The species does not form large schools or undertake long migrations.[
This fish feeds in open water on comb jellies and jellyfish, and on bottom-living crustaceans and invertebrates, such as crabs, sea urchins, brittle stars, and starfish.][
]
Conservation status
The northern wolffish is protected under the Canadian federal Species at Risk Act
The ''Species at Risk Act'' (SARA) (the ''Act'') is a piece of Canadian federal legislation which became law in Canada on December 12, 2002. It is designed to meet one of Canada's key commitments under the International Convention on Biological D ...
(SARA), where it is classified as a Threatened species
Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...
.[ A recovery team for the northern and spotted wolffish has almost completed a recovery strategy and plan for both species. The strategy provides a framework for improving the status of wolffish through an enhanced understanding of their life history, potential sources of harm, and implementing management measures such as live release of captured wolffish. The plan also includes habitat stewardship and educational activities designed to involve stakeholders and inform the public.][
In Europe it is regarded as ]Endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
because of its sedentary habits, the numbers taken as bycatch
Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...
by fisheries and the threat of anthropogenic climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. The IUCN inferred that the northeastern Atlantic population has reduced by over 50% in the last three generations.[
]
Old Woman Fish
The Northern wolfish overlaps in range with the Bering wolffish (''A. orientalis'') in the Bathurst Inlet
Bathurst Inlet, officially Kiluhiqtuq, is a deep inlet located along the northern coast of the Canadian mainland, at the east end of Coronation Gulf, into which the Burnside and Western rivers empty. The name, or its native equivalent ''Kingo ...
where the local Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
do not distinguish between the species, calling both by the name ''akoak'' or ''akoaksaluk'' ("old woman fish").
References
*''The Northern Wolffish, a Species at Risk in the North'', Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada, 2005
Other Text Sources:
*Scott and Scott 1988; Quinn 2002 (COSEWIC Status Report); Stock Status Report 2004/031 2003.
External links
*
*For more information, visit the SARA Registry Website at ww.SARAregistry.gc.caand the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Website.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q29331
Northern wolffish
The northern wolffish (''Anarhichas denticulatus''), also known as the blue sea cat or jelly cat, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Anarhichadidae, the wolf fishes. This species is found in the North Atlantic Ocean an ...
Fish of the North Atlantic
Endangered fish
Fish described in 1845
Taxa named by Henrik Nikolai Krøyer