Black Grenadier

Head broad, rather soft; snout broad, rounded, with a large blunt tubercular scute at its tip; chin with small barbel. Scales relatively adherent; spinules dense on body scales, long, thin and recurved, narrowly lanceolate, with longitudinal anterior concavity. Pyloric caeca 29 to 31, long and slender. Color medium brown to grayish; orbits, oral and branchial cavities, and fins blackish to brownish gray.

Dorsal spines (total): 2; Analspines: 0

Benthopelagic to bathypelagic in about 400 and 1200 m depth. Form large schools at 600 to 900 m depth (Ref. 9988). Feed on a variety of fish and invertebrates, but primarily on pelagic crustaceans such as shrimps, amphipods and cumaceans; cephalopods and lantern fishes constitute a lesser portion of the diet. This species is currently facing overexploitation in the North Atlantic (Ref. 1371). Adults are preyed upon by whales and Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides); young fish by redfish and other species. Parasites of the species include 5 myxosporidians, 1 monogenean, 3 cestodes, 7 trematodes (like Dolichoenterum sp. and Gonocerca crassa), 3 nematodes and 2 crustaceans (Ref. 5951).

Benthopelagic to bathypelagic in about 400 and 1200 m depth. Minimum depth from Ref. 1371. Form large schools at 600 to 900 m depth (Ref. 9988). Feed on a variety of fish and invertebrates, but primarily on pelagic crustaceans such as shrimps, amphipods and cumaceans; cephalopods and lantern fishes constitute a lesser portion of the diet. Batch spawner (Ref. 51846). This species is currently facing overexploitation in the North Atlantic. Utilized frozen and for fishmeal; can be fried and baked (Ref. 9988).

fisheries: commercial