Black cod

Black cod is also used to refer to the related Paranotothenia magellanica (Maori cod, Magellanic rockcod) and to the unrelated Anoplopoma fimbria (sablefish) and Epinephelus daemelii.

Black cod
Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Nototheniidae
Genus:	Notothenia
Species:	N. microlepidota
Binomial name
Notothenia microlepidota Hutton, 1875

The black cod or smallscaled cod, Notothenia microlepidota, is a marine cod icefish in the genus Notothenia with distribution ranging from southern New Zealand to sub-Antarctic seas, although they have also been fished off the Great Australian Bight, Chile, and round the Falkland Islands, on rocky reefs. Their length is between 25 and 70 cm, and they may weigh up to 3 kg.

The juveniles are silvery in appearance with a pronounced tail fork. The adult has a less pronounced fork in the tail, with body colors of silver, yellow and reddish-brown. The scales are very small, and there are two lateral lines which have a considerable overlap.

Being a sub-Antarctic species, the black cod has special adaptations such as antifreeze proteins in its blood, as well as adipose tissues to offset its lack of swim bladders, giving it neutral buoyancy. Sablefish, Anoplopoma fimbria, is occasionally called black cod as well, but it is not a true cod. In New Zealand, Maori Cod is also known as "black cod".

References

• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Notothenia microlepidota" in FishBase. May 2006 version.
• Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8