northeast1
Well-known member
Well if you are like me and not got much to do tonight, abit of good reading on the "common cod" does make you think when you read they need to live for 3-4 years before they can spawn.
From January to late March coinciding with the lowest sea temperatures of the year. A female cod can lay anything up to 5,000,000 eggs annually. The young cod hatch in the early spring and reach 4-6in in their first year. In the second year they attain 14-16in and 1.5 lbs in weight. growth accelerates in the third year reaching between 4 and 6lbs with approximately 20% become sexually mature. Most fish reach maturity when weighing 7-10lbs in their 4th year. Cod can be expected to add on roughly 4lbs per year, but extreme cases can double this.
Each year commercial catches include fish over 70lbs, including recent ones from the Bristol Channel, the English Channel and Irish Sea.
DIET
First year codling live on shrimps, but after that quickly revert to worms, shellfish, crabs, small fish etc. Adult fish eat crabs, worms, larger fish like whiting, pouting, flatfish, sprats, poor cod and even small codling, in fact just about anything edible it comes across.
From January to late March coinciding with the lowest sea temperatures of the year. A female cod can lay anything up to 5,000,000 eggs annually. The young cod hatch in the early spring and reach 4-6in in their first year. In the second year they attain 14-16in and 1.5 lbs in weight. growth accelerates in the third year reaching between 4 and 6lbs with approximately 20% become sexually mature. Most fish reach maturity when weighing 7-10lbs in their 4th year. Cod can be expected to add on roughly 4lbs per year, but extreme cases can double this.
Each year commercial catches include fish over 70lbs, including recent ones from the Bristol Channel, the English Channel and Irish Sea.
DIET
First year codling live on shrimps, but after that quickly revert to worms, shellfish, crabs, small fish etc. Adult fish eat crabs, worms, larger fish like whiting, pouting, flatfish, sprats, poor cod and even small codling, in fact just about anything edible it comes across.
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