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Cod

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Insects, Reptiles and
Fish

                    iCod
   Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
   Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
         Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Actinopterygii
   Order:   Gadiformes
   Family:  Gadidae
   Genus:   Gadus
            Linnaeus, 1758

                                   Species

   Gadus morhua
   Gadus macrocephalus
   Gadus ogac

   Cod is the common name for the genus Gadus of fish, belonging to the
   family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name of a variety of
   other fishes. Cod is a popular food fish with a mild flavor, low fat
   content, and a dense white flesh that flakes easily. Cod livers are
   processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of Vitamin A,
   Vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids ( EPA and DHA).

   In the United Kingdom, cod is the one of the most common kind of fish
   to be found in fish and chips, along with Haddock and Plaice.

Bacalhau

   Bacalhau means codfish in Portuguese, but the word almost always refers
   to the dry, salted codfish product called clipfish, as fresh cod is
   rarely consumed in Portugal. The word bacalhau is however also used
   when referring to dishes with clipfish.

Species in genus Gadus

   Cod surfacing
   Enlarge
   Cod surfacing

   At various times in the past, a very considerable number of species
   have been classified in this genus. However the great majority of them
   are now either classifed in other genera, or have been recognised as
   simply forms of one of three species. Modern taxonomy, therefore,
   recognises only three species in this genus:
     * Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua
     * Pacific cod, Gadus macrocephalus
     * Greenland cod, Gadus ogac

   All these species have a profusion of common names, most of them
   including the word "cod". Many common names have been used of more than
   one species, in different places or at different times.

Related species called cod

   Cod forms part of the common name of many other fish no longer
   classified in the genus Gadus. Many of these are members of the family
   Gadidae, and several were formerly classified in genus Gadus; others
   are members of three related families whose names include the word
   "cod": the morid cods, Moridae (100 or so species); the eel cods,
   Muraenolepididae (4 species); and the Eucla cod, Euclichthyidae (1
   species). The tadpole cod family ( Ranicipitidae) has now been absorbed
   within Gadidae.
   Cod postage stamp, Newfoundland
   Enlarge
   Cod postage stamp, Newfoundland

   Species within the order Gadiformes that are commonly called cod
   include:
     * Arctic cod Arctogadus glacialis
     * East Siberian cod Arctogadus borisovi
     * Saffron cod Eleginus gracilis
     * Polar cod Boreogadus saida
     * Rock cod Lotella rhacina
     * Poor cod Trisopterus minutus
     * Pelagic cod Melanonus gracilis
     * Small-headed cod Lepidion microcephalus
     * Tadpole cod Guttigadus globosus
     * Eucla cod Euclichthys polynemus

   Some other related fish have common names derived from "cod", such as
   codling, codlet or tomcod. ("Codling" is also used as a name for a
   young cod.)

Unrelated species called cod

   However there are also fish commonly known as cod that are quite
   unrelated to the genus Gadus. Part of this confusion of names is
   market-driven. Since the decline in cod stocks has made the Atlantic
   cod harder to catch, cod replacements are marketed under names of the
   form "x cod", and culinary rather than phyletic similarity has governed
   the emergence of these names. A very large number of fish have thus
   been named as some kind of cod at some time. The following species,
   however, seem to have well established common names including the word
   "cod"; note that all are Southern Hemisphere species.

Order Perciformes:

   Norwegian fisher with cod
   Enlarge
   Norwegian fisher with cod
     * Murray cod Maccullochella peelii peelii
     * Eastern freshwater cod Maccullochella ikei
     * Mary River cod Maccullochella peelii mariensis
     * Trout cod Maccullochella macquariensis
     * Sleepy cod Oxyeleotris lineolatus
     * Blue cod Parapercis colias
     * The cod icefish family, Nototheniidae, including:
          + Black cod Paranotothenia microlepidota
          + Maori cod Paranotothenia magellanica
          + Antarctic cod Dissostichus mawsoni

Rock cod, reef cod, and coral cod

   Almost all the fish known as coral cod, reef cod or rock cod are also
   in order Perciformes. Most are better known as groupers, and belong to
   the family Serranidae. Others belong to the Nototheniidiae. Two
   exceptions are the Australasian red rock cod, which belongs to a
   different order (see below), and the fish known simply as the rock cod
   in New Zealand, Lotella rhacina, which as noted above actually is
   related to the true cod (it is a morid cod).

Order Scorpaeniformes

     * Ling cod Ophiodon elongatus
     * Red rock cod Scorpaena papillosa

Order Ophidiiformes:

   The Tadpole cod family, Ranicipitidae, and the Eucla cod family,
   Euclichthyidae, were formerly classified in this order, but are now
   grouped with the Gadiformes.

Species marketed as cod

   Some fish that do not have 'cod' in their names are sometimes sold as
   cod. Haddock and whiting belong in the same family, the Gadidae, as
   cod.
     * Haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus
     * Whiting Merlangius merlangus

Cod trade

   Stockfish
   Enlarge
   Stockfish

   Cod has been an important economic commodity in an international market
   since the Viking period (around 800 AD). Norwegians used dried cod
   during their travels and soon a dried cod market developed in southern
   Europe. This market has lasted for more than 1000 years, passing
   through periods of Black Death, wars and other crisis and still is an
   important Norwegian fish trade. The Basques also played an important
   role in the cod trade.

   Apart from the long history this particular trade also differs from
   most other trade of fish by the location of the fishing grounds, far
   from large populations and without any domestic market. The large cod
   fisheries along the coast of North Norway (and in particular close to
   the Lofoten islands) have been developed almost uniquely for export,
   depending on sea transport of stockfish over large distances. Since the
   introduction of salt, dried salted cod (klippfisk) has also been
   exported. The trade operations and the sea transport were by the end of
   the 14th century taken over by the Hanseatic League, Bergen being the
   most important port of trade.

   William Pitt the Elder, criticising the Treaty of Paris in Parliament,
   claimed that cod was British gold; and that it was folly to restore
   Newfoundland fishing rights to the French.

   In the 17th and 18th centuries, the New World, especially in
   Massachusetts and Newfoundland, cod became a major commodity, forming
   triangular trade networks and cross-cultural exchanges. In the 20th
   century, Iceland re-emerged as a fishing power and entered the Cod Wars
   to gain control over the north Atlantic seas. In the late 20th and
   early 21st centuries, Cod fishing off the coast of Europe and America
   severely depleted Cod stocks there which has since become a major
   political issue as the necessity of restricting catches to allow fish
   populations to recover has run up against opposition from the fishing
   industry and politicians reluctant to approve any measures that will
   result in job losses. The 2006 Northwest Atlantic cod quota is set at
   23,000 tons representing half the available stocks, while it is set to
   473,000 tons for the Northeast Atlantic cod.

   The recent collapse of the Northwest Atlantic cod stock has resulted in
   the closure of many areas to fishing in an attempt to protect the
   remaining stocks of cod. Additionally the number of days that fishermen
   are allowed to fish has been sharply cut back in the northeast United
   States. Incentives have been put into place to encourage the fishing of
   alternative species, such as haddock, which are now in the process of
   recovering from overfishing from the 1960s to the early 1990s when a
   series of regulations took effect.

Trivia

   The Norwegian municipalities Vikna and Vågan have cods in their
   coat-of-arms.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
