Pollock
Encyclopedia
Pollock is the common name used for either of the two species
of marine
fish
in the Pollachius genus
. Both P. pollachius
and P. virens
are commonly referred to as pollock. Other names for P. pollachius include the Atlantic pollock, European pollock, lieu jaune, and lythe; while P. virens is sometimes known as Boston blues (distinct from bluefish), coalfish (or coley), Silver Bills or saithe.
Both species can grow to 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) and can weigh up to 46 lb (21 kg). The fish has a strongly-defined silvery lateral line
running down the sides. Above the lateral line the color is a greenish black. The belly is white. It can be found in water up to 100 fathom
s (180 m) deep over rocks, and anywhere in the water column. Pollock are a "whitefish
".
or walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) and the rarer Norwegian pollock (Theragra finnmarchica). While related (they are also members of the family
Gadidae
) to the above pollock species, they are not members of the Pollachius genus. Alaska pollock generally spawn in late winter and early spring on Southeast Bering Sea
. The Alaska pollock is a significant part of the commercial fishery in the Gulf of Alaska.
, in the United Kingdom it has previously been largely consumed as a cheaper and versatile alternative to cod
and haddock
in the West Country, elsewhere being known mostly for its traditional use as "Pollack for puss / coley
for the cat." However, in recent years pollock has become more popular due to over-fishing of cod
and haddock
. It can now be found in most supermarkets as fresh fillets or prepared freezer items. For example, when minced, it is the primary component of fish fingers and Popcorn Fish.
It is often the common ingredient used to create imitation crab meat
.
Because of its slightly gray color pollock is often prepared, as in Norway, as fried fish balls or if juvenile sized, breaded with oatmeal
and fried, as in Shetland. Year old fish are traditionally split, salted and dried over a peat hearth in Orkney where their texture becomes wooden and somewhat phosphorescent. The fish can also be salted and smoked and achieve a salmon
-like orange color (although it is not closely related to the salmon), as is the case in Germany
where the fish is commonly sold as Seelachs or sea salmon. In Korea, pollock may be repeatedly frozen and melted to create Hwangtae, half-dried to create Ko-da-ri, or fully dried and eaten as Book-o.
In 2009, U.K. supermarket Sainsbury's renamed pollock 'Colin' in bid to boost eco-friendly sales of the fish as an alternative to cod. The supermarket also suggested some shoppers may be too embarrassed to ask for the species under its proper title, due to its reputation as an inferior fish, and its similarity to a popular English swear word (bollocks
). Sainsbury's, which said the new name was derived from the French for cooked pollock (colin), launched the product under the banner "Colin and chips can save British cod."
Cod and related species are plagued by parasites. For example the cod worm, Lernaeocera branchialis, starts life as a copepod
, a small free-swimming crustacean larva
. The first host used by cod worm is a flatfish
or lumpsucker
, which they capture with grasping hooks at the front of their body. They penetrate the lumpsucker with a thin filament which they use to suck its blood. The nourished cod worms then mate on the lumpsucker.
The female worm, with her now fertilized eggs, then finds a cod, or a cod-like fish such as a haddock
or whiting. There the worm clings to the gill
s while it metamorphoses into a plump, sinusoidal, wormlike body, with a coiled mass of egg strings at the rear. The front part of the worms body penetrates the body of the cod until it enters the rear bulb of the host's heart
. There, firmly rooted in the cod's circulatory system, the front part of the parasite develops like the branches of a tree, reaching into the main artery
. In this way, the worm extracts nutrients from the cod's blood, remaining safely tucked beneath the cod's gill cover until it releases a new generation of offspring into the water.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of marine
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
in the Pollachius 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...
. Both P. pollachius
Pollachius pollachius
Pollachius pollachius is a species of marine fish in the Pollachius genus. Together with Pollachius virens it is generally referred to as Pollock. Other names include the Atlantic pollock, European pollock, lieu jaune, and lythe. It is common in the north-eastern parts of the Northern Atlantic,...
and P. virens
Pollachius virens
Pollachius virens is a species of marine fish in the Pollachius genus. Together with Pollachius pollachius it is generally referred to in the U.S. as Pollock. Other names include the Boston blues , coalfish and saithe in the UK.This species can be separated from P...
are commonly referred to as pollock. Other names for P. pollachius include the Atlantic pollock, European pollock, lieu jaune, and lythe; while P. virens is sometimes known as Boston blues (distinct from bluefish), coalfish (or coley), Silver Bills or saithe.
Both species can grow to 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) and can weigh up to 46 lb (21 kg). The fish has a strongly-defined silvery lateral line
Lateral line
The lateral line is a sense organ in aquatic organisms , used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water. Lateral lines are usually visible as faint lines running lengthwise down each side, from the vicinity of the gill covers to the base of the tail...
running down the sides. Above the lateral line the color is a greenish black. The belly is white. It can be found in water up to 100 fathom
Fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.There are 2 yards in an imperial or U.S. fathom...
s (180 m) deep over rocks, and anywhere in the water column. Pollock are a "whitefish
Whitefish (fisheries term)
Whitefish or white fish is a fisheries term referring to several species of demersal fish with fins, particularly cod , whiting , and haddock , but also hake , pollock , or others...
".
Other fish called pollock
There are also members of the Theragra genus that are commonly referred to as pollock. This includes the Alaska pollockAlaska pollock
Alaska pollock or walleye pollock is a North Pacific species of the cod family Gadidae. While related to the common Atlantic pollock species of the same family, the Alaska pollock is not a member of the same Pollachius genus.The Norwegian pollock , a rare fish of Norwegian waters, may actually be...
or walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) and the rarer Norwegian pollock (Theragra finnmarchica). While related (they are also members of the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Gadidae
Gadidae
Gadidae is a family of marine fish, included in the order Gadiformes. It includes the cod, haddock, whiting, and pollock.Most species of gadid are found in temperate waters of the northern hemisphere, although there are some exceptions. They are generally medium sized fish, and are distinguished...
) to the above pollock species, they are not members of the Pollachius genus. Alaska pollock generally spawn in late winter and early spring on Southeast Bering Sea
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....
. The Alaska pollock is a significant part of the commercial fishery in the Gulf of Alaska.
Cuisine
Atlantic pollock is largely considered to be a whitefish, although it is a fairly strongly flavored one. Although traditionally a popular source of food in some countries like NorwayNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, in the United Kingdom it has previously been largely consumed as a cheaper and versatile alternative to cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
and haddock
Haddock
The haddock , also known as the offshore hake, is a marine fish distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic. Haddock is a popular food fish and is widely fished commercially....
in the West Country, elsewhere being known mostly for its traditional use as "Pollack for puss / coley
Pollachius virens
Pollachius virens is a species of marine fish in the Pollachius genus. Together with Pollachius pollachius it is generally referred to in the U.S. as Pollock. Other names include the Boston blues , coalfish and saithe in the UK.This species can be separated from P...
for the cat." However, in recent years pollock has become more popular due to over-fishing of cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
and haddock
Haddock
The haddock , also known as the offshore hake, is a marine fish distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic. Haddock is a popular food fish and is widely fished commercially....
. It can now be found in most supermarkets as fresh fillets or prepared freezer items. For example, when minced, it is the primary component of fish fingers and Popcorn Fish.
It is often the common ingredient used to create imitation crab meat
Crab stick
Crab sticks are a form of kamaboko, a processed seafood made of finely pulverized white fish flesh , shaped and cured to resemble crab leg meat....
.
Because of its slightly gray color pollock is often prepared, as in Norway, as fried fish balls or if juvenile sized, breaded with oatmeal
Oatmeal
Oatmeal is ground oat groats , or a porridge made from oats . Oatmeal can also be ground oat, steel-cut oats, crushed oats, or rolled oats....
and fried, as in Shetland. Year old fish are traditionally split, salted and dried over a peat hearth in Orkney where their texture becomes wooden and somewhat phosphorescent. The fish can also be salted and smoked and achieve a salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
-like orange color (although it is not closely related to the salmon), as is the case in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
where the fish is commonly sold as Seelachs or sea salmon. In Korea, pollock may be repeatedly frozen and melted to create Hwangtae, half-dried to create Ko-da-ri, or fully dried and eaten as Book-o.
In 2009, U.K. supermarket Sainsbury's renamed pollock 'Colin' in bid to boost eco-friendly sales of the fish as an alternative to cod. The supermarket also suggested some shoppers may be too embarrassed to ask for the species under its proper title, due to its reputation as an inferior fish, and its similarity to a popular English swear word (bollocks
Bollocks
"Bollocks" is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning "testicles". The word is often used figuratively in British English and Hiberno-English, as a noun to mean "nonsense", an expletive following a minor accident or misfortune, or an adjective to mean "poor quality" or "useless"...
). Sainsbury's, which said the new name was derived from the French for cooked pollock (colin), launched the product under the banner "Colin and chips can save British cod."
Parasites
Copepod
Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic , some are benthic , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests,...
, a small free-swimming crustacean larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
. The first host used by cod worm is a flatfish
Flatfish
The flatfish are an order of ray-finned fish, also called the Heterosomata, sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through and around the head during development...
or lumpsucker
Lumpsucker
Lumpsuckers or lumpfish are mostly small scorpaeniform marine fish of the family Cyclopteridae. They are found in the cold waters of the Arctic, North Atlantic, and North Pacific oceans...
, which they capture with grasping hooks at the front of their body. They penetrate the lumpsucker with a thin filament which they use to suck its blood. The nourished cod worms then mate on the lumpsucker.
The female worm, with her now fertilized eggs, then finds a cod, or a cod-like fish such as a haddock
Haddock
The haddock , also known as the offshore hake, is a marine fish distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic. Haddock is a popular food fish and is widely fished commercially....
or whiting. There the worm clings to the gill
Gill
A gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water, afterward excreting carbon dioxide. The gills of some species such as hermit crabs have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist...
s while it metamorphoses into a plump, sinusoidal, wormlike body, with a coiled mass of egg strings at the rear. The front part of the worms body penetrates the body of the cod until it enters the rear bulb of the host's heart
Heart
The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
. There, firmly rooted in the cod's circulatory system, the front part of the parasite develops like the branches of a tree, reaching into the main artery
Artery
Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. This blood is normally oxygenated, exceptions made for the pulmonary and umbilical arteries....
. In this way, the worm extracts nutrients from the cod's blood, remaining safely tucked beneath the cod's gill cover until it releases a new generation of offspring into the water.