Black Grenadier

A large species. Abdominal region short. Snout broad, rounded, tipped with a large blu tubercular scute; head broad, rather soft, deep; chin barbel minute; teeth small, conical, in long narrow band in premaxillary, about 3 rows wide, narrowing to 1 row posteriorly, outer series slightly enlarged; in 1 or 2 irregular rows in mandible; interopercle a thin, naked flap; inner gill rakers on first arch 3 + 15 to 17; outer gill rakers second arch 3 + 15 to 17. Measurements in percentages of head length: snout length 27 to 31; preoral 22 to 28; o diameter 29 to 32; interorbital space 29 to 38; upper jaw 35 to 39; suborbital shelf 15 to 17; barbel length 2.5 to isthmus to anal fin origin 51 to 61; interspace between first and second dorsal fin 37 to 54. First dorsal fin with spines and 8 to 11 rays; pelvic fin rays 7 or 8; outer pelvic fin ray elongated, almost equal to head length. Scales relatively adherent, completely and uniformly covering almost all of head and body; a small patch of scales on gular membrane; no modified scutelike scales except at tip of snout; spinules dense on body scales, long, slender, recurved, narrowly lanceolate, with longitudinal anterior concavity; scales below midbase of first dorsal fin 6.5. Pyloric caeca to 31 (long, slender). Colour: medium brown to greyish; orbits, mouth, gill cavity, and fins blackish to brownish grey.

Temperate North Atlantic from about 37°N to Baffin Island and Greenland in the western Atlantic, and off Iceland and Norway (66°N) south to North Africa (20°N) in the eastern Atlantic.Middleton.& Musick (1986) reported the isolated capture of 2 specimens from the tongue of the Ocean east of Andros Island (about 24°N, 77°W) in the Bahama Islands.

To more than 100 cm total length.

Benthopelagic to bathypelagicin about 400 to 1200 m depth, but ranges from 180 to 2200 m. The species apparently undergoes spawning migrations as well as diurnal vertical feeding migrations that may carry them more than 1000 m off bottom.During the summer months, it moves to deeper waters, returning to shallower waters in the winter. Spawning is believed to take place in summer and autumn, primarily in Icelandic waters. Females mature at around 60 cm, males at about 40 cm. Fecundity estimates range from 12 000 to 35 500 eggs per female. Feeds 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 part of the diet.

Catch statistics for 1986 in the FAO Yearbook of Fishery Statistics reported 31 538 t of which 12 604 t were taken in the northeastern Alantic (former USSR, ca.22 842 t, Denmark, ca. 1 121 t), and 8 242 t in the northwestern Atlantic (German Democratic Republic, ca. 4 500 t, USSR, ca. 2 700 t, Portugal, ca. 1 000 t, and others). A valuable commercial fish in the North Atlantic currently facing overexploitation. The flesh is of excellent texture and taste, and is consumed directly.The fisheries for the species, begun in the mid-sixties, is by factory stern trawlers, which may fish as deep as 1300 m. The Soviet Union, German Democratic Republic and Poland are the primary countries engaged in this fishery. Maximum catch per unit effort is achieved in the late summer and fall when the species form dense concentrations in 600 to 900 m depth. The total catch reported for this species to FAO for 1999 was 19 430 t. The countries with the largest catches were France (9 108 t) and Spain (6 224 t).