The haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Melanogrammus. It is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and associated seas, where it is an important species for fisheries, especially in northern Europe, where it is marketed fresh, frozen and smoked; smoked varieties include the Finnan haddie and the Arbroath smokie. Other smoked versions include long boneless, the filleted side of larger haddock smoked in oak chips with the skin left on the fillet.
Description
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The haddock has the elongated, tapering body shape typical of members of the cod family. It has a relatively small mouth which does not extend to below the eye; with the lower profile of the face being straight and the upper profile slightly rounded, this gives its snout a characteristic wedge-shaped profile. The upper jaw projects beyond the lower more so than in the Atlantic cod. There is a rather small barbel on the chin. There are three dorsal fins, the first being triangular in shape and these dorsal fins have 14 to 17 fin rays in the first, 20 to 24 in the second, and 19 to 22 in the third. There are also two anal fins and in these there are 21 to 25 fin rays in the first and 20 to 24 fin rays in the second. The pelvic fins are small with an elongated first fin ray.
The upper side of the haddock's body varies in colour from dark grey brown to nearly black while the lower part of the body is dull silvery white. It has a distinctive black lateral line contrasting with the whitish background colour and which curves slightly over the pectoral fins. It also has a distinctive oval black blotch or 'thumbprint', sometimes called the "Devil's thumbprint", which sits between the lateral line and the pectoral fin, a feature which leads to the name of the genus Melanogrammus which derives from Greek "melanos" meaning "black" and "gramma" meaning letter or signal. Their growth rate shows considerable regional variation and fish at one year old can measure , at 2 years old , up to at 13 years old. Their lifespan is around 14 years.
In their larval stages, haddock mainly feed on the immature stages of copepods, ostracods and limacina with their diet changing as they grow, moving on to larger pelagic prey such as amphipods, euphausiids, eggs of invertebrates, zoea larvae of decapods and increasing numbers of copepods. Once they have reached the settled, demersal, post-larval stage, they gradually switch from pelagic to benthic prey. however, they will feed opportunistically on smaller fish such as capelin, sandeels and Norway pout. Juvenile haddock are an important prey for larger demersal fish, including other gadoids, while seals prey on the larger fish.
The recorded growth rates of haddock underwent significant change over the 30 to 40 years up to 2011. The haddock stock periodically has higher than normal productivity; for example in 1962 and 1967, and to a lesser extent, 1974 and 1999. These result in a more southerly distribution of the fish and have a strong effect on the biomass of the spawning stock, but because of high fishing mortality, these revivals do not have any lasting effect on the population. In general, there was above average recruitment from the 1960s up to the early 1980s, similar to recruitment for Atlantic cod and whiting, this has been called the gadoid outburst. There was strong recruitment in 1999 but since then, the recruitment rate has been very low.
The female worm, with her now fertilized eggs, then finds a cod, or a cod-like fish such as a haddock or whiting. There, the worm clings to the gills while it metamorphoses into a plump, sinusoidal, wormlike body, with a coiled mass of egg strings at the rear. The front part of the worm's body penetrates the body of the cod until it enters the rear bulb of the host's heart. There, firmly rooted in the cod's circulatory system, the front part of the parasite develops like the branches of a tree, reaching into the main artery. In this way, the worm extracts nutrients from the cod's blood, remaining safely tucked beneath the cod's gill cover until it releases a new generation of offspring into the water. In 1862 Theodore Nicholas Gill created the genus Melanogrammus with M. aeglefinus as its only species. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the haddock within the subfamily Gadinae, the typical cods, of the family Gadidae, which is within the superfamily Gadoidea of the order Gadiformes.
The generic name Melanogrammus means "black line", a reference to the black lateral line of this species. The specific name is a latinisation of the vernacular names egrefin and eglefin, used in France and England.
Fisheries
thumb|330x330px|Landings of haddock in the eastern Atlantic in the period 1980–2022. Data from ICES.
Haddock is fished year-round using gear such as Danish seine nets, trawlers, long lines and gill nets and is often caught in mixed species fishery with other groundfish species such as cod and whiting. The main fishing grounds in the eastern Atlantic are in the Barents Sea, around Iceland, around the Faeroe Islands, in the North Sea, Celtic Sea, and in the English Channel. Landings in the eastern Atlantic have fluctuated around 200–350 thousand tonnes in the period 1980–2017. During the 1980s, the largest portion of the catch was taken at Rockall but from about 2000, the majority of the catch is caught in the Barents Sea. All the stocks in eastern Atlantic are assessed by ICES, which publish a recommendations on an annual basis for Total Allowable Catch.]]
In the western Atlantic the eastern Georges Bank haddock stock is jointly assessed on an annual basis by Canada and the United States and the stock is collaboratively managed through the Canada–United States Transboundary Management Guidance Committee, which was established in 2000. The commercial catch of haddock in North America was approximately 40–60 thousand tonnes per year between 1920 and 1960. This declined sharply in the late 1960s to between 5 and 30 thousand tonnes per year. Despite a few good years post-1970, landings have not returned to historical levels. In contrast, Monterey Bay Aquarium considers haddock a "good alternative". Many haddock fisheries have been certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. All seven stocks assessed in the eastern Atlantic are currently considered by ICES to be harvested sustainably. The haddock populations in the western Atlantic (offshore grounds of Georges Bank off New England and Nova Scotia) are also considered to be harvested sustainably.
As food
Haddock is very popular as a food fish. It is sold fresh or preserved by smoking, freezing, drying, or to a small extent canning. Haddock, along with Atlantic cod and plaice, is one of the most popular fish used in British fish and chips.thumb|left|Smoked haddock served with [[onions and red peppers]] When fresh, the flesh of haddock is clean and white and its cooking is often similar to that of cod. Young, fresh haddock and cod fillets are often sold as scrod in Boston, Massachusetts; this refers to the size of the fish which have a variety of sizes, i.e., scrod, markets, and cows. Haddock is the predominant fish of choice in Scotland in a fish supper. It is also the main ingredient of Norwegian fishballs (fiskeboller). Unlike cod, haddock is not an appropriate fish for salting and preservation is more commonly effected by drying and smoking.
The smoking of haddock was highly refined in Grimsby. Traditional Grimsby smoked fish (mainly haddock, but sometimes cod) is produced in the traditional smokehouses in Grimsby, which are mostly family-run businesses that have developed their skills over many generations. Grimsby fish market sources its haddock from the North East Atlantic, principally Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands. These fishing grounds are sustainably managed and have not seen the large scale depreciation in fish stocks seen in EU waters.
One popular form of haddock is Finnan haddie which is named after the fishing village of Finnan or Findon in Scotland, where the fish was originally cold-smoked over smouldering peat. Finnan haddie is often poached in milk and served for breakfast.
The town of Arbroath on the east coast of Scotland produces the Arbroath smokie. This is a hot-smoked haddock which requires no further cooking before eating.
Smoked haddock is naturally an off-white colour and it is frequently dyed yellow, as are other smoked fish. Smoked haddock is the essential ingredient in the Anglo-Indian dish kedgeree,
References
Further reading
- Alan Davidson, North Atlantic Seafood, 1979, .
- Haddock; . NOAA FishWatch. Retrieved 5 November 2012.