Cusk (fish)
Lumb ( Cusk brosme )
The tusk ( Brosme brosme ) is a fish of the cod family and the only member of the genus Cusk. As a result of the decline of many commercial fish species, he became increasingly become the targets from the 1990s. This unregulated use led to a serious risk to the stock, so the management of the species is regulated in the EU since 2003 both by a total allowable catch, as well as quotas.
Distribution and habitat
In the western North Atlantic, the tusk of New Jersey is found to Belle -Isle Strait and Grand Banks of Newfoundland, more rarely it occurs around the southern tip of Greenland. From Iceland, its range extends into the North Sea to the coasts of Scandinavia and the Barents Sea in front of Murmansk. The northernmost occurrence of life in the waters around Svalbard.
The tusk lives floor oriented over rock, rubble, or gravel ground and on steep slopes. In the Gulf of Maine, he is occasionally also found on muddy ground, soft and smooth sandy bottom, he usually avoids. It remains both the coast as well as the shallow water away and lives in water depths between 20 and 1000 meters. In the Northeast Atlantic, he is often found at depths between 150 and 450 meters, the Northwest Atlantic 18-549 meters. The type tolerate a temperature range between zero and ten degrees Celsius.
Features
The spindle-shaped body of the Lumbs can reach an overall length of 110 centimeters. In general, however, the species grows in its eastern settlements zoom up to a size between 60 and 95 inches and 50 to 80 inches in the western parts. The large head bears on the lower jaw a single Bartel. The upper jaw protrudes slightly. Both back - like anal fin are conspicuously long and extend to the approach of the tail fin with which they are partially connected. In contrast to most other cod, tusk carries only a single dorsal fin. The pectoral fins end at a significant distance to the beginning of the anal fin. The pelvic fins are constantly throat and fleshy.
The tusk is brown to gray in color with a lighter belly. In young specimens six yellow cross bands on the sides of the body are possible. The most conspicuous color feature is a black hem with white border on the unpaired fins. The scales are very small, and deeply anchored in the thick, slimy skin. The lateral line is complete until shortly before the approach of the tail fin.
Fins formula: Dorsal 93-103, Anal 62-75
Behavior
The major part of the food of the living solitary or in small groups Lumbs make crabs and mollusks, but he captured other benthic living fish. Its operating range is relatively limited and confined mainly to the change in water depth, no specific information before a pronounced migratory behavior.
At the age of eight to ten years, when it has reached a total length between 40 and 50 centimeters, the tusk is capable of reproduction. Spawning takes place at depths between 100 and 200 meters and is very productive, a female medium size gives it up to two million eggs. Pelagic, between 1.3 and 1.5 millimeters by measuring eggs ripen slowly near the surface. The young pelagic up to a length of about two inches, then he goes to a ground- oriented way of life. Lumbe grow slowly and can reach an age of 20 years to achieve.