CreatureData

Atlantic cod

Gadus morhua Linnaeus, 1758

VUVulnerablebony fish

The Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is a bony fish in the family Gadidae, order Gadiformes. Its body length is 90 cm, with sources reporting values from 60 cm to 1.2 m, and its lifespan is 25 years.

Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
Photo: Credit at source · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the Atlantic cod

Its main foods include atlantic mackerel, capelin, clam, clupea harengus, haddock, herring, mussel, polychaeta, sand eel, teuthida and whiting. The IUCN Red List assesses the Atlantic cod globally as Vulnerable (VU), a threatened category.

Weight
Not recorded
Length
60 cm – 1.2 msrc for Length
Lifespan
25 yearssrc for Lifespan
Main food
atlantic mackerel, capelin, clam, clupea harengus, clypeasteroida, common sole and 10 moresrc for Main food
Habitat
coastalsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the Atlantic cod?

ATLANTIC COD · LENGTH 1.2 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 1.2 m, the recorded maximum length of the Atlantic cod is about 71% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the Atlantic cod

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
Stephane Lesbats (IFREMER, Pôle Images, Centre Bretagne - ZI de la Pointe du… · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
Abuluntu · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
Abuluntu · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
Wilhelm Thomas Fiege · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
Hans-Petter Fjeld · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
Juan Emilio Prades Bel · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
Berger, F · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
Ekström, Carl Ulrik · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
Ekström, Carl Ulrik · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the Atlantic cod live?

Not recorded

What is the Atlantic cod?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The Atlantic cod (pl.: cod; Gadus morhua) is a fish of the family Gadidae, widely consumed by humans. It is also commercially known as cod or codling.

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, areas around Iceland and the Barents Sea.

Atlantic cod can live for up to 25 years and typically grow up to 100–140 cm (40–55 in), but individuals in excess of 180 cm (70 in) and 50 kg (110 lb) have been caught. They will attain sexual maturity between ages 2 and 8, but this varies between populations and has varied over time.

Colouring is brown or green, with spots on the dorsal side, shading to silver ventrally. A stripe along its lateral line (used to detect vibrations) is visible. Its habitat ranges from the coastal shoreline down to 300 m (1,000 ft) 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 Canadian fishing economy until 1992, when the Canadian Government implemented 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. This absence of the apex predator has led to a trophic cascade in many areas. 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. A 2013 assessment covering only Europe shows the Atlantic cod has rebound in the continent, and it has been relabelled least concern.

Dry cod may be prepared as unsalted stockfish, and as cured salt cod or clipfish.

From the Wikipedia article “Atlantic cod” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atlantic_cod&oldid=1382128400), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the Atlantic cod endangered?

The Atlantic cod is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.

How is the Atlantic cod classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderGadiformes
  5. familyGadidae
  6. genusGadus
  7. SpeciesGadus morhua Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms Asellus major, Gadus arenosus, Gadus callarias, Gadus callarias hiemalis, Gadus callarias kildinensis, Gadus callarius, Gadus heteroglossus, Gadus morhua callarias, Gadus morhua kildinensis, Gadus morhua morhua, Gadus morrhua, Gadus nanus, Gadus rupestris, Gadus vertagus, Morhua punctatus, Morhua vulgaris, Morrhua americana, Morrhua vulgaris

Other names and names in other languages (110)
  • Arctic codEnglish
  • Berry fishEnglish
  • CodEnglish
  • CodEnglish
  • CodEnglish
  • CodlingEnglish
  • CodlingEnglish
  • FishEnglish
  • HaberdineEnglish
  • HaberdineEnglish
  • Kil'din codEnglish
  • Kil'din codEnglish
  • Rock codEnglish
  • Atlantiese kabeljouAfrikaans
  • bacalláuAsturian
  • Траска атлантычнаяBelarusian
  • ТрескаBulgarian
  • moruBreton
  • troscBreton
  • BacallàCatalan
  • treska obecnáCzech
  • PòmùchlaKashubian
  • penfrasWelsh
  • PenfreisionWelsh
  • torskDanish
  • Atlantisk torskDanish
  • DorschGerman
  • Atlantischer KabeljauGerman
  • KabeljauGerman
  • ΓάδοςGreek
  • MoruoEsperanto
  • bacalaoSpanish
  • bacalao comúnSpanish
  • bacalao del AtlánticoSpanish
  • TurskEstonian
  • BakailaoBasque
  • turskaFinnish
  • torskurFaroese
  • morueFrench
  • cabillaudFrench
  • cabillaud de l'AtlantiqueFrench
  • Morue CommuneFrench
  • morue de l'AtlantiqueFrench
  • morue francheFrench
  • morusFrench
  • KabbeljauWestern Frisian
  • troscIrish
  • trosgScottish Gaelic
  • bodachScottish Gaelic
  • bodach ruadhScottish Gaelic
  • bodaich ruadhaScottish Gaelic
  • truisgScottish Gaelic
  • BacallauGalician
  • שבוט צפוניHebrew
  • BakalarCroatian
  • Atlanti tőkehalHungarian
  • þorskurIcelandic
  • AtlantshafsþorskurIcelandic
  • baccalàItalian
  • merluzzoItalian
  • Merluzzo biancoItalian
  • merluzzo nordico atlanticoItalian
  • タイセイヨウダラJapanese
  • ვირთევზაGeorgian
  • SaarullikKalaallisut
  • sârugdlikKalaallisut
  • BakanyadoLadino
  • menkėLithuanian
  • MencaLatvian
  • torskNorwegian Bokmål
  • gjeddNorwegian Bokmål
  • taretorskNorwegian Bokmål
  • gulDutch
  • Atlantische kabeljauwDutch
  • DoggeDutch
  • DoggevisDutch
  • kabeljauwDutch
  • kleine kabeljauwDutch
  • KlipvisDutch
  • StokvisDutch
  • torskNorwegian Nynorsk
  • kysttorskNorwegian Nynorsk
  • loddetorskNorwegian Nynorsk
  • skreiNorwegian
  • AtlanterhavstorskNorwegian
  • torskNorwegian
  • Gadus morhuaOccitan
  • CabioPicard
  • dorszPolish
  • dorsz atlantyckiPolish
  • watluszPolish
  • bacalhauPortuguese
  • Bacalhau-do-AtlânticoPortuguese
  • pertuiRussian
  • Атлантическая трескаRussian
  • treskaRussian
  • dorskiNorthern Sami
  • trskaSlovenian
  • UgoticaSerbian
  • torskSwedish
  • torsk [fisken]Swedish
  • MorinaTurkish
  • Atlantik morinasıTurkish
  • Тріска північнаUkrainian
  • Атлантична тріскаUkrainian
  • Тріска атлантичнаUkrainian
  • Атлантична або північна тріскаUkrainian
  • Cá tuyết Đại Tây DươngVietnamese
  • Noci-Comquockewam
  • 大西洋鱈Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistITISTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the Atlantic cod

Other species in the same genus Gadus.

Pacific cod

Gadus macrocephalus

GadidaeNo free photo yet

CompareAtlantic cod vs Pacific codAtlantic cod vs Gadus argentatusAtlantic cod vs Gadus asellusAtlantic cod vs Gadus bacalaus

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the Atlantic cod?

The Atlantic cod is a bony fish in the family Gadidae, part of the order Gadiformes.

How big is the Atlantic cod?

The Atlantic cod has a body length of 90 cm. Sources report lengths from 60 cm to 1.2 m.

What does the Atlantic cod eat?

Its main foods are atlantic mackerel, capelin, clam, clupea harengus, clypeasteroida, common sole, haddock, herring, holothuroidea, mussel, pleuronectes platessa, polychaeta, sand eel, teuthida, tunicata and whiting.

Is the Atlantic cod endangered?

The Atlantic cod is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List in its global assessment, which is a threatened category.

How long does the Atlantic cod live?

The Atlantic cod has a lifespan of 25 years.

What is the scientific name of the Atlantic cod?

The scientific name of the Atlantic cod is Gadus morhua, named by Linnaeus, 1758.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

Embed a card for this animal on your own site

Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.

Preview the card

APA

CreatureData. (2026). Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/atlantic-cod

MLA

“Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/atlantic-cod.

BibTeX
@misc{atlantic_cod_2026,
  title = {Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/atlantic-cod},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}