CreatureData

Burbot

Lota lota (Linnaeus, 1758)

LCLeast Concernbony fish

The burbot (Lota lota) is a bony fish in the family Lotidae, order Gadiformes. Other English names for the burbot include Cusk, Ling, Lawyer, Eelpout and Eel-pout.

Burbot (Lota lota)
Photo: West Robin, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the burbot

Its scientific name authority is (Linnaeus, 1758), and it belongs to the genus Lota, suborder Gadoidei and class Teleostei. The burbot is listed as Least Concern in a global IUCN Red List assessment, which is not a threatened category.

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
freshwatersrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Photos of the burbot

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

Burbot (Lota lota)
Dustin Snider · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Burbot (Lota lota)
Robert Breitinger · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Burbot (Lota lota)
Robert Breitinger · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Burbot (Lota lota)
Rob Foster · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Burbot (Lota lota)
Berger, F · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Burbot (Lota lota)
Ekström, Carl Ulrik · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

1 more photo exists under a licence we cannot display: view at source.

Where does the burbot live?

Not recorded

What is the burbot?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The burbot (Lota lota), also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, or eelpout, is a species of coldwater ray-finned fish native to the subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only member of the genus Lota, and is the only freshwater species of the order Gadiformes. The species is closely related to marine fish such as the common ling and cusk, all of which belong to the family Lotidae (rocklings).

From the Wikipedia article “Burbot” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Burbot&oldid=1382031627), 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 burbot endangered?

The burbot is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  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 Least Concern species.

How is the burbot classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderGadiformes
  5. familyLotidae
  6. genusLota
  7. SpeciesLota lota (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Enchelyopus lota, Enchelyopus lota, Gadus compressus, Gadus fischeri, Gadus lacustris, Gadus lota, Gadus maculosa, Gadus maculosus, Lota brosmiana, Lota brosmina, Lota communis, Lota compressa, Lota fluviatilis, Lota inornata, Lota linnei, Lota lota asiatica, Lota lota kamensis, Lota lota lacustris, Lota lota leptura, Lota lota lota, Lota lota maculosa, Lota lota onegensis, Lota lota onegensis, Lota maculosa, Lota maculosa, Lota marmorata, Lota vulgaris, Lota vulgaris obensis, Lota vulgaris var. obensis, Molva huntia, Molva lota, Molva maculosa, Mostella fluviatilis

Other names and names in other languages (79)
  • CuskEnglish
  • Eel-poutEnglish
  • Eel-poutEnglish
  • EelpoutEnglish
  • LawyerEnglish
  • LingEnglish
  • Poor man's lobsterEnglish
  • Lota lotaAzerbaijani
  • ШамбыBashkir
  • МянтузBelarusian
  • НалимBulgarian
  • МихалцаBulgarian
  • mník jednovousýCzech
  • MińtusKashubian
  • penfras dwr croywWelsh
  • Penfreision Dwr CroywWelsh
  • knudeDanish
  • FerskvandskvabbeDanish
  • RuppeGerman
  • AalquappeGerman
  • AalraupeGerman
  • AalrutteGerman
  • QuappaalGerman
  • QuappeGerman
  • RufolkenGerman
  • RufunkelGerman
  • RutteGerman
  • TreischeGerman
  • TrüscheGerman
  • LojtoEsperanto
  • lotaSpanish
  • manignaqCentral Yupik
  • lutsEstonian
  • madeFinnish
  • loteFrench
  • Lote de rivièreFrench
  • lotteFrench
  • lotte de rivièreFrench
  • menyhalHungarian
  • ՇերեփաձուկArmenian
  • LotaoIdo
  • TiktaalikInuktitut
  • TittaaliqInupiaq
  • BottatriceItalian
  • カワメンタイJapanese
  • НәлімKazakh
  • 모오캐Korean
  • vėgėlėLithuanian
  • Paprastoji vėgėlėLithuanian
  • VēdzeleLatvian
  • МентюкMoksha
  • lakeNorwegian Bokmål
  • kwabaalDutch
  • lakeNorwegian Nynorsk
  • Fisken lakeNorwegian Nynorsk
  • MizayOjibwa
  • miętusPolish
  • Miętus pospolityPolish
  • Lota-do-rioPortuguese
  • Lota-de-água-docePortuguese
  • burbotRomanian
  • mihalţRomanian
  • mihoarcăRomanian
  • налимRussian
  • Налим речнойRussian
  • Обыкновенный налимRussian
  • Тонкохвостый налимRussian
  • МнюхRusyn
  • СыалыһарYakut
  • njáhkáNorthern Sami
  • mieň sladkovodnýSlovak
  • МанићSerbian
  • lakeSwedish
  • gelincik balığıTurkish
  • НальымUdmurt
  • МиньUkrainian
  • Минь річковийUkrainian
  • Cá tuyết sôngVietnamese
  • 江鱈Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistITISTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the burbot

Other species in the same genus Lota.

CompareBurbot vs Lota digitataBurbot vs Lota kumunikarBurbot vs Lota molva

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 a burbot?

The burbot is a bony fish. It belongs to the family Lotidae in the order Gadiformes.

What is the scientific name of the burbot?

The scientific name of the burbot is Lota lota. It is placed in the genus Lota.

Is the burbot endangered?

No. The burbot is listed as Least Concern in a global IUCN Red List assessment, which is not a threatened category.

What are other names for the burbot?

Other English names for the burbot are Cusk, Ling, Lawyer, Eelpout and Eel-pout.

What family does the burbot belong to?

The burbot belongs to the family Lotidae, in the suborder Gadoidei and class Teleostei.

Sources and how to cite this page

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

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Burbot (Lota lota). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/burbot

MLA

“Burbot (Lota lota).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/burbot.

BibTeX
@misc{burbot_2026,
  title = {Burbot (Lota lota)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/burbot},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}