The rock cod (''Lotella rhacina'') is a temperate

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

found off the coasts of southeastern Australia,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, the

Great Australian Bight The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia. Extent Two definitions of the extent are in use – one used by the International Hydrog ...

and northwards up the southwestern Australia coasts. They are also found around the coasts of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country ...

and California. They belong to the family

Moridae The Moridae are a family of cod-like fishes, known as codlings, hakelings, and moras. Morids are marine fishes found throughout the world, and may be found at depths to , although most prefer shallower waters. In appearance, they greatly resembl ...

and are not related to the true

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the 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 ''Gadus'' is commonly not calle ...

s (genus ''Gadus''). They are also known as beardie in Australia. Rock cod are yellow-grey to red-brown with white fin margins. They have 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 ...

s. They may grow up to 50 cm in length. They are found in caves in bays and coastal reefs. They are frequently found inshore and inhabit shallow waters in the continental shelf with typical depth of 10 to 90 m. Many other fish species are sometimes called 'rock cod', but most are unrelated to the cod family, and are better known as

grouper Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes. Not all serranids are called "groupers"; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name "grouper" is u ...

References

* * rock cod Marine fish of Southern Australia Fish of New Zealand rock cod Taxa named by Johann Reinhold Forster {{Gadiformes-stub