Editing Atlantic cod (section)

{{Short description|Species of fish}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Pliocene|recent}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fitch |first1=J.E |title=Teleost fish otoliths from Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina (Yorktown Formation: Pliocene) |journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology |date=1983 |volume=53 |pages=509–529 |doi=10.5479/si.00810266.53.509 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/267478#page/519/mode/1up}}</ref>
| name = Atlantic cod
| status = VU
| status_system = IUCN2.3
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 1996">{{cite iucn |author=Sobel, J. |date=1996 |title=''Gadus morhua'' |volume=1996 |page=e.T8784A12931575 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T8784A12931575.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref>
| image = Atlantic Cod, Atlantischer Kabeljau (Gadus morhua).jpg
| image2 = Atlantic cod.jpg
| image_upright = 1.1
| taxon = Gadus morhua
| authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| range_map = Gadus morhua-Atlantic cod.png
| range_map_caption = Distribution of Atlantic cod
| synonyms = {{Specieslist
 |Asellus major|
 |Gadus callarias|Linnaeus, 1758
 |Gadus vertagus|[[Johann Julius Walbaum|Walbaum]], 1792
 |Gadus heteroglossus|Walbaum, 1792
 |Gadus ruber|[[Bernard Germain de Lacépède|Lacepède]], 1803
 |Gadus arenosus|[[Samuel L. Mitchill|Mitchill]], 1815
 |Gadus rupestris|Mitchill, 1815
 |Morhua vulgaris|[[John Fleming (naturalist)|Fleming]], 1828
 |Morhua punctatus|Fleming, 1828
 |Gadus nanus|Faber, 1829
 |Morrhua americana|[[David Humphreys Storer|Storer]], 1839
 }}
}}

The '''Atlantic cod''' ({{plural form}}: cod; '''''Gadus morhua''''') is a [[fish]] of the family [[Gadidae]], widely [[seafood|consumed]] by humans. It is also [[Commercial fishing|commercially]] known as ''[[cod]]'' or ''codling''.<ref name=seaport>[http://www.seafood-portal.com/Fish_Products/Gadus_morhua:Atlantic_cod ''Atlantic Cod''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091225151638/http://www.seafood-portal.com/Fish_Products/Gadus_morhua%3AAtlantic_cod |date=2009-12-25 }}. Seafood Portal.</ref>{{Refn|group=n|During the Middle Ages, [[Middle English]] used numerous forms such as ''mulvel'', ''milvel'', ''melvel'', and ''milwell'' to refer to fresh, large cod<ref name=milwell/> and ''morhwell'' to refer to smaller ones.<ref name=morwell>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd&nbsp;ed. "morhwell, ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2002.</ref> Fresh cod was also known as the ''common cod'',<ref>{{Citation |last=Richardson |first=John |title=Fauna Boreali-Americana; or the Zoology of the Northern Parts of British America: Containing Descriptions of the Objects of Natural History Collected on the Late Northern Land Expeditions under Command of Captain Sir John Franklin, R.N. |volume= III: The Fish |contribution=93. Gadus Morrhua. (Auct.) ''Common Cod-fish'' |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rc5cAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA242 |pages=242–245 |location=London |publisher=Richard Bentley |date=1836 }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Grant |first=Francis William |title=The New Statistical Account of Scotland |volume=XI |contribution=Parish of Banff (Presbytery of Fordyce, Synod of Aberdeen.) |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5DVAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA12 |page=12 |date=1836 |location=Edinburgh |publisher=William Blackwood & Sons }}.</ref> the ''Scotch cod'',<ref>{{citation |editor-last=Riley |editor-first=Henry Thomas |title=Munimenta Gildallæ Londoniensis: Liber Albus, Liber Custumarum, et Liber Horn |volume= II, Part II., containing Liber Custumarum, with extracts from the Cottonian MS Claudius, D. II. |date=1860 |location=London |publisher=Eyre & Spottiswoode for Her Majesty's Stationery Office |contribution=Glossary of Mediæval Latin |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XMMKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA816 |page=816 }}.</ref> and as the ''green fish'' or ''greenfish''.<ref name=greenfish>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd&nbsp;ed. "green fish, ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2011.</ref> "Greenfish", however, now more often refers to [[Greenfish (disambiguation)|other fish]]. Similarly, "codling" may refer to various [[morids]].}}

In the western Atlantic Ocean, cod has a distribution north of [[Cape Hatteras]], [[North Carolina]], and around both coasts of [[Greenland]] and the [[Labrador Sea]]; in the eastern Atlantic, it is found from the [[Bay of Biscay]] north to the [[Arctic Ocean]], including the [[Baltic Sea]], the [[North Sea]], [[Sea of the Hebrides]],<ref>C.Michael Hogan, (2011) [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Sea_of_Hebrides?topic=49523 ''Sea of the Hebrides''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524005430/http://www.eoearth.org/article/Sea_of_Hebrides?topic=49523 |date=May 24, 2013 }}. Eds. P. Saundry & C.J.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC.</ref> areas around [[Iceland]] and the [[Barents Sea]].

Atlantic cod can live for up to 25 years and typically grow up to {{cvt|100-140|cm|in|round=5}}, but individuals in excess of {{cvt|180|cm|in|-1}} and {{cvt|50|kg|lb|round=5}} have been caught.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-04-07 |title=Verdensrekordtorsken blir fransk middag |work=NRK |url=https://www.nrk.no/tromsogfinnmark/verdensrekordtorsken-blir-fransk-middag-1.13994150 |access-date=2022-04-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-03-29 |title=Bergey náði 50 kílóa þorski |work=MBL |url=https://www.mbl.is/200milur/frettir/2022/03/29/bergey_nadi_50_kiloa_thorski/ |access-date=2022-04-04}}</ref> They will attain sexual maturity between ages two and eight with this varying between populations and has varied over time.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=ICES |date=2021 |title=Report of the Working Group on the Assessment of Demersal Stocks in the North Sea and Skagerrak (WGNSSK) |url=https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/_/18621326 |journal=ICES Scientific Reports |doi=10.17895/ICES.PUB.8211}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=ICES |date=2021 |title=. Northwestern Working Group (NWWG) |url=https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/_/18621020 |journal=ICES Scientific Reports |doi=10.17895/ICES.PUB.8186}}</ref>

Colouring is brown or green, with spots on the [[Dorsum (biology)|dorsal]] side, shading to silver ventrally. A stripe along its [[lateral line]] (used to detect vibrations)<ref name="Bleckmann 13–25">{{Cite journal|last1=Bleckmann|first1=Horst|last2=Zelick|first2=Randy|date=2009-03-01|title=Lateral line system of fish|journal=Integrative Zoology|volume=4|issue=1|pages=13–25|doi=10.1111/j.1749-4877.2008.00131.x|issn=1749-4877|pmid=21392273|doi-access=free}}</ref> is clearly visible. Its [[habitat (ecology)|habitat]] ranges from the coastal shoreline down to {{convert|300|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}} along the [[continental shelf]].

Atlantic cod is one of the most heavily fished species. Atlantic cod was fished for a thousand years by north European fishers who followed it across the North Atlantic Ocean to North America. It supported the US and Canada fishing economy until 1992, when the Canadian Government implemented [[Collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery|a ban on fishing cod]].
Several cod stocks collapsed in the 1990s (decline of more than 95% of maximum historical [[biomass]]) and have failed to fully recover even with the cessation of fishing.<ref name="Frank" /> This absence of the [[apex predator]] has led to a [[trophic cascade]] in many areas.<ref name="Frank" /> Many other cod stocks remain at risk. The Atlantic cod is labelled vulnerable on the [[IUCN Red List of Threatened Species]], per a 1996 assessment that the IUCN notes needs updating.<ref name="iucn status 1996" /> A 2013 assessment covering only Europe shows the Atlantic cod has rebounded in Europe, and it has been relabelled least concern.<ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=Cook, R. |author2=Fernandes, P. |author3=Florin, A. |author4=Lorance, P. |author5=Nedreaas, K. |year=2015 |title=''Gadus morhua'' (Europe assessment) |volume=2015 |page=e.T8784A45097319 |doi= |access-date=10 July 2024}}</ref>

Dry cod may be prepared as unsalted [[stockfish]],<ref name="milwell">''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd&nbsp;ed. "milwell, ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2002.</ref><ref name="stockfish">''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st&nbsp;ed. "stock-fish| 'stockfish, ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1917.</ref> and as [[curing (food preservation)|cured]] [[salt cod]] or [[clipfish]].{{Refn|group=n|Former names for salted cod include ''cured cod'',<ref name=greencod/> ''ling'',<ref name=greencod/><ref name=ling>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st&nbsp;ed. "ling, ''n.¹''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1903.</ref><ref name=haberdine/> and ''haberdine''.<ref name=seaport/><ref name=haberdine>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st&nbsp;ed. "†&nbsp;haberdine, ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1898.</ref> Freshly-salted cod was known as ''green cod'', ''white cod'', ''corefish'',<ref name=greencod>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd&nbsp;ed. "green cod, ''n.¹''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2011.</ref> ''coursfish'',<ref name=stockfish/> and green fish or greenfish.<ref name=greenfish/> "Green cod" may also refer to the [[saithe]] (''Pollachius virens''), [[Pollachius pollachius|pollack]] (''P. pollachius''), or uncommonly to the [[lingcod]] (''O. elongatus'').<ref name=greenfish/> "Ling" now more often refers to [[Ling (disambiguation)|other fish]], particularly the [[common ling]] (''Molva molva'').<ref name=ling/>}}