Southern blue whiting
Micromesistius australis
- Usual depth185–375 m
- Water temperature6–10 °C
- Best monthsSeptember, October, and November
- How commonCommon
About this species
The southern blue whiting is a codfish of the genus Micromesistius, found in the southern oceans with temperatures between 3 and 7 °C, at depths of 50 to 900 m. Its length is commonly between 30 and 60 cm, with a maximum length of 90 cm. Maximum weight is at least 1350 g.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Southern blue whiting”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
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Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 1,322 records
- February: 3,648 records
- March: 1,320 records
- April: 899 records
- May: 484 records
- June: 79 records
- July: 295 records
- August: 1,954 records
- September: 6,005 records
- October: 5,360 records
- November: 5,700 records
- December: 2,529 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 185–375 m · Deepest record: 915 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 6–10 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Southern blue whiting
Names in 4 more languages
- German
- südlicher Wittling
- French
- merlan bleu austral
- Japanese
- パタゴニアミナミダラ
- Simplified Chinese
- 南藍鱈
Similar species
Alaska pollockGadus chalcogrammus
Pacific codGadus macrocephalus
Atlantic codGadus morhua
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 29,980 open-data records from 1927 to 2023.
- Species data updated November 4, 2026.
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