Cod – interesting fish

Cod is an important sources of food. Cod-liver oil is very rich in vitamins A and D and other things that people need to stay healthy. There are about 21 genera and 55 species of codfishes.
Cod live in the cold waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the North Sea in Europe. They are gray-green fish with speckles and a white line on their sides. Atlantic cod may also be reddish in color. Pacific cod is smaller than their Atlantic relatives.
Barbel, a thin tentacle that hangs from the cod’s lower jaw, is an unusual physical feature of the cod. Scientists think this organ may be a tool for finding food.
In fact, cod may grow to be 1.8 meters long and more than 90 kilograms in weight.

A female cod may lay as many as 8 million eggs. Ocean currents carry the eggs over large areas.

The Atlantic cod has been one of the world’s major food fishes for centuries. Tens of thousands of tons of this fish are caught every year. The fish ranges from a dark greenish-gray to orange-brown in color. The fish has a stout body, a large head, and long barbel on its chin. Its belly is white. The Atlantic cod is omnivorous, that is it eats animals and plants. Adults eat a great variety of mollusks, crabs, lobsters, and fish. Young cod feed at the bottom of the ocean floor.
Cod travel long distances to the places where they produce their eggs. The older a female cod becomes, the more eggs she will produce.
They may live to be about 20 years old. Generally, these fish are called “groundfish”, because they stay near the bottom of the ocean much of the time.
Overfishing, destruction of ocean habitat, pollution and climate changes are responsible for the huge decline in the cod population.
In the 1960-1970s of the twentieth century, between Britain and Iceland there were diplomatic conflicts over territorial waters, called “cod wars”.
Cod is depicted on the coat of arms of Murmansk, Russia.

Cod – interesting fish