Distribution data supplied by the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS). To interrogate UK data visit the NBN Atlas.Map Help
Researched by | Sonia Rowley | Refereed by | Admin |
Authority | (Linnaeus, 1758) | ||
Other common names | - | Synonyms | - |
Molva molva primarily feeds on other fish such as Trisopterus esmarkii, Gadus gadus, Clupea harengus and flat fish, and invertebrates such as crustaceans and starfish may also be consumed, but more likely by the inshore juveniles. This species is commercially fished using longlines and trawls around western Scotland. It is salted and dried as klipfisk and then exported to southern Europe (Muus & Dahlstrom, 1974; Wheeler, 1969). Molva molva maybe mistaken for Merluccius merluccius, although this species does not have a barbel. There are two other Molva species: Molva dypterygia and Molva macrophthalma with the former present only in UK waters. Molva molva can be distinguished from Molva dypterygia by its barbel being longer than the eye, and by having 59 to 70 second dorsal fin rays, whereas Molva dypterygia has 69 to 83 rays (Muus & Dahlstrom, 1974).
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OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System), 2023. Global map of species distribution using gridded data. Available from: Ocean Biogeographic Information System. www.iobis.org. Accessed: 2023-06-03
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Last Updated: 03/07/2008