The burbot is the only gadiform

Gadiformes

Gadiformes is an order of ray-finned fish, also called the Anacanthini, that includes the cod and its allies. Many major food fish are in this order. They are found in marine waters throughout the world, and there are also a small number of freshwater species.Common characteristics include the...

 (cod-like) fish inhabiting freshwaters. It is also known as mariah, the lawyer, and (misleadingly) eelpout

Eelpout

The eelpouts are the ray-finned fish family Zoarcidae. As the common name suggests, they are somewhat eel-like in appearance, with elongate bodies, and the dorsal and anal fins continuous with the caudal fin. All of the approximately 220 species are marine, mostly bottom-dwelling, some at great...

. It is closely related to the marine common ling

Common Ling

The common ling or simply the ling, Molva molva, is a large member of the cod family. An ocean fish whose habitat is in the Atlantic region and can be found around Iceland, Faroe Islands, British Isles, the Norse coast and occasionally around Newfoundland, the ling has a long slender body that can...

 and the cusk

Cusk (fish)

The cusk or tusk, Brosme brosme, is a marine cod-like fish in the ling family Lotidae. It is the only species in the genus Brosme. Other common names include brismak, brosmius, torsk and moonfish.-Description:...

. It is the only member

Monotypic

In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...

 of the genus Lota.

The genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 and species name "lota" comes from the old French

Old French

Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...

 "lotte", fish named also "barbot" in this language. The Inuktitut

Inuktitut

Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...

–Iñupiaq word for burbot was used to name the recently discovered extinct transitional species Tiktaalik

Tiktaalik

Tiktaalik is a genus of extinct sarcopterygian from the late Devonian period, with many features akin to those of tetrapods . It is an example from several lines of ancient sarcopterygian "fish" developing adaptations to the oxygen-poor shallow-water habitats of its time, which led to the...

.

Distribution

It is most common in stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

s and lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

s of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 above 40°N latitude

40th parallel north

The 40th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 40 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....

. They are fairly common in Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...

 but are also found in the other Great Lakes

Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...

.

United Kingdom

In Britain, the burbot is possibly an extirpated fish as it is believed that there have been no documented catches of the species since the 1970s. http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=246 If the burbot does still survive in the UK, the counties of Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire (particularly the River Derwent

River Derwent, Yorkshire

The Derwent is a river in Yorkshire in the north of England. It is used for water abstraction, leisure and sporting activities and effluent disposal as well as being of significant importance as the site of several nature reserves...

 or River Ouse

River Ouse, Yorkshire

The River Ouse is a river in North Yorkshire, England. The river is formed from the River Ure at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about 6 miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure...

) seem to be the strongest candidates for areas in which the species might yet continue to survive http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/whatson/prog_parse.cgi?FILENAME=20050313/20050313_1330_49700_46694_30. There have been plans to re-introduce this freshwater member of the cod family back into British waters but these have yet to come to fruition.

Commercial significance

The burbot is edible. In Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, its roe

Roe

Roe or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins...

 is sold as caviar

Caviar

Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....

. There is an annual spearfishing tournament held near Roblin, Manitoba, Canada. One of the highlights of the tournament is the fish-fry where the day's catch is served up deep-fried. When cooked, burbot meat tastes very similar to American lobster

American lobster

The American lobster, Homarus americanus, is a species of lobster found on the Atlantic coast of North America, chiefly from Labrador to New Jersey. Within North America, it is also known as the northern lobster or Maine lobster. It can reach a body length of , and a mass of over , making it the...

, leading to the burbot's nickname of "poor man's lobster."

In the 1920s, Minnesota druggist Theodore "Ted" H. Rowell and his father, Joseph Rowell, a commercial fisherman on Lake of the Woods

Lake of the Woods

Lake of the Woods is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota. It separates a small land area of Minnesota from the rest of the United States. The Northwest Angle and the town of Angle Township can only be reached from the rest of...

, were using the burbot as feed for the foxes on Joe’s blue-fox farm. They discovered that the burbot contained something that improved the quality of the foxes’ furs; this was confirmed by the fur buyers who commented that these furs were superior to other furs they were seeing. Ted Rowell felt it was something in the burbot, so he extracted some oil and sent it away to be assayed. The result of the assay was that the liver of the burbot has 3 to 4 times the potency in vitamin D, and 4 to 10 times in vitamin A, than “good grades” of cod-liver oil. The vitamin content varies in Burbot from lake to lake, where their diet may have some variation. Additionally, the burbot liver makes up approximately 10% of the fish's total body weight, and its liver is six times the size of those of freshwater fish of comparable size. Ted also found in his research that the oil is lower in viscosity, and more rapidly digested and assimilated than most other fish liver oils. Ted went on to found the Burbot Liver Products Company which later became Rowell Laboratories, Inc.

Rowell Laboratories, Inc.

Rowell Laboratories, Inc., a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, was founded in 1929, was located in Baudette, Minnesota, and later included facilities in Marietta, Georgia and Orlando, Florida. Rowell Laboratories, Inc...

, of Baudette, Minnesota, and is today a subsidiary of Solvay

Solvay

Solvay may refer to* Solvay , an international chemicals and plastics company* the Solvay process* Ernest Solvay, its inventor* Solvay Conference* the Solvay Business School* Solvay, New York* Solvay Hut, on the Matterhorn...

 Pharmaceuticals of Brussels, Belgium.
Evelyn C. Smith researched and developed of the use of livers from the fresh water burbot for fish oil strong in vitamin A and D. She started during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 (1929) by offering free burbot oil to the poor and grew to commercializing the oil until the sale of the production equipment to the Rowell Fish Company in 1940.

Angling

The IGFA recognizes the world record burbot as caught on Lake Diefenbaker

Lake Diefenbaker

Lake Diefenbaker is a reservoir in Southern Saskatchewan, Canada. It was formed by the construction of Gardiner Dam and the Qu'Appelle River Dam across the South Saskatchewan and Qu'Appelle Rivers respectively. Construction began in 1959 and the lake was filled in 1967. The lake is long with...

, Canada by Sean Konrad on March 27, 2010. The fish weighed 25 pounds (11.34 kg).

The burbot is a tenacious predator, which will sometimes attack other fish that are almost the same size and as such can be a nuisance fish in waters where it is not native. Recent discoveries of burbot in the Green River

Green River (Utah)

The Green River, located in the western United States, is the chief tributary of the Colorado River. The watershed of the river, known as the Green River Basin, covers parts of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The Green River is long, beginning in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming and flowing...

 at Flaming Gorge Reservoir

Flaming Gorge Reservoir

Flaming Gorge Reservoir is a reservoir in Wyoming and Utah, on the Green River, created by Flaming Gorge Dam. Construction on the dam began in 1958 and was completed in 1964...

 in Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 have concerned wildlife biologists who fear that the burbot could decimate the sport fish population in what is recognized as one of the world's top Brown Trout

Brown trout

The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....

 fisheries, because it often feeds on the eggs of other fish in the lake like Sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon , also called red salmon or blueback salmon in the USA, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it...

. The Utah Division of Fish and Game has instituted a "No Release" "Catch and Kill" regulation for the burbot in Utah waterways.

The town of Walker, Minnesota

Walker, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,069 people, 449 households, and 258 families residing in the city. The population density was 734.3 people per square mile . There were 517 housing units at an average density of 355.1 per square mile...

, holds an International Eelpout Festival every winter on Leech Lake

Leech Lake

Leech Lake is a lake located in north central Minnesota, United States. It is southeast of Bemidji, located mainly within the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, and completely within the Chippewa National Forest. It is used as a reservoir...

. The festival received national attention on March 4, 2011 when a correspondent from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...

did a segment on the event.

External links

• Experts to discuss reintroduction of Burbot to UK, Matt Clarke, Practical Fishkeeping magazine
• Lota lota Burbot