Callagh

No barbel at tip of lower jaw. lateral line with a sharp dip between first and second do fins. Colour: variable, dorsally dark, sharply distinguished from silver-grey sides and belly, upper part of body with part of body with yellow to orange streaks or blotches. Fins uniformly dark except for yellowish pelvics. Lateral line greenish.

Northeastern Atlantic from Norway, the Faeroes (rare) and Iceland to thee Bay of Biscay.

Possibly reaching 130 cm total length, but 75 cm is more common.

Pelagic to benthopelagic,mostly close to shore but up to 200 m depth over hard bottoms.Young are pelagic and live near the coast up to 3 years, then migrate to the open sea where they are found mostly between 40 and 100 m depth. Spawns in March in the Bay of Biscay, in February in Spain, and in May in Norway, at ca. 150 m depth. Ireland. Growth is rapid but slower in the north. At 5 years, the fish attain lengths of 63 cm in the Bay of Biscay, 65 cm off Spain, 59 cm in the Celtic Sea and 52 cm off W. Maximum age and size are 8 years and 75 cm.Feeds mostly on fish and incidentally on cephalopods and crustaceans (shrimps and crabs).

Not particularly important commercial fish . The catch for 1987 reported in FAO Yearbook of Fishery Statistics totalled 16 751 t, all from the northeastern Atlantic (France: ca. 8 334 t; U K: ca. 2 546 t, Spain: 1 771 t; Norway: 1 526 t; Denmark: 1 091 t; Ireland: 951 t and others. The major fishing grounds are the Celtic Sea, the English Channel, and the northern Bay of Biscay. Caught with bottom trawl or pelagic trawl, longlines and gillnets. Marketed fresh and frozen.The total catch reported for this species to FAO for 1999 was 10 555 t. The countries with the largest catches were France (3 112 t) and Norway (2 928 t).