Blue Cod

Parapercis colias

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth10–49 m
Water temperature10–18 °C
Best monthsFebruary, March, and October
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) Felix Collins, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

The New Zealand blue cod is a temperate marine ray-finned fish of the family Pinguipedidae. It is also known as Boston blue cod, New Zealand cod, and sand perch, and by its Māori names, rāwaru, pākirikiri, and patutuki.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Blue cod”, 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: 2,549 records
February: 3,832 records
March: 3,319 records
April: 1,030 records
May: 85 records
June: 89 records
July: 575 records
August: 69 records
September: 1,983 records
October: 4,596 records
November: 137 records
December: 121 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 10–49 m · Deepest record: 1,103 m

0–10 m: 2,136 records
10–20 m: 3,750 records
20–30 m: 5,244 records
30–40 m: 7,275 records
40–50 m: 1,725 records
50–60 m: 719 records
60–70 m: 211 records
70–80 m: 331 records
80–90 m: 242 records
90–100 m: 81 records
100–110 m: 84 records
110+ m: 537 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 10–18 °C

10–12 °C: 114 records
12–14 °C: 629 records
14–16 °C: 219 records
16–18 °C: 7 records

Photos

no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Shaun Lee, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Doug Miller, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) John Barkla, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) taylor h, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tim Park, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kelvin Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Blue Cod, New Zealand Blue Cod, Sandperch

Names in 3 more languages

German: Sandbarsch
Japanese: ミナミアオトラギス
Simplified Chinese: 新西蘭擬鱸

Other scientific names: Enchelyopus colias

Similar species

Southern Grubfish
Parapercis australis
False-eyed Grubfish
Parapercis clathrata
Cylindrical sandperch
Parapercis cylindrica
Wavy Grubfish
Parapercis haackei
Spotted sandmelt
Parapercis hexophtalma
Blackdotted sand perch
Parapercis millepunctata

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).
26,572 open-data records from 1900 to 2018.
Species data updated November 5, 2026.

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