Blue whiting: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the blue whiting lives – recorded in 11 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Micromesistius poutassou
Group	Bony fish
Found in	11 countries
Continents	Europe
Class	Ray-finned fish
Order	Gadiformes
Family	Gadidae

Where does the blue whiting live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the blue whiting in 11 countries and territories across Europe.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What kind of animal is the blue whiting?

The blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) is a ray-finned fish in the order Gadiformes and the family Gadidae, genus Micromesistius. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the blue whiting

The blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) one of the two species in the genus Micromesistius in the order of Gadiformes, which also contains cod, haddock, whiting, and pollock. It is common in the northeast Atlantic Ocean from Morocco to Iceland and Spitsbergen. It also occurs in the northern parts of the Mediterranean, where it may be locally abundant.

Blue whiting also occur in the northwest Atlantic Ocean between Canada and Greenland, but is considered rare. It has a long, narrow body and a silvery underbody. The fish can attain a length of more than 40 cm. The average length of blue whiting caught off the west shores of the UK is 31 cm.

A related species, southern blue whiting, Micromesistius australis, occurs in the Southern Hemisphere.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Blue whiting (revision 1346143072), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q743248 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).