Author: (Linnaeus, 1758)

Molva molva (Linnaeus, 1758)

Diagnosis: upper jaw projecting beyond lower one. Eye small, more than five times in head length and one and a half to two times in snout length. Head small, less than five and a half times in body length. First dorsal finrays 14-15, second dorsal finrays 61-68; anal finrays 58-64. Vertebrae 63-65. Colour: bronze or bronze green above, distinctly marbled, lighter below, dark spot at hind edge of both dorsal fins, anal fins white-edged. Size: to 150-180 cm SL, rarely to 200 cm.

Habitat: deepwater, 300-400 m; immature inshore, in 15-20 m, over rocks. Behaviour: evidently not gregarious, no long-distance migrations. Food: mostly fishes (gadoids, herring, flatfishes), also crustaceans, starfish. Reproduction: from March to July, between 50-300 m.

Distribution: North Atlantic from western Barents Sea, Iceland, Skagerrak and Kattegat to Gibraltar, also western Mediterranean (rare). Elsewhere, western North Atlantic (rare).

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Schmidt, 1906: 1, pl. I (fig. 1425) | Ehrenbaum, 1909: 267, fig. 96 | d'Ancona, 1933: 226, fig. 210-213.
Otoliths (sagitta). Fryd, 1901: 27 | Frost, 1926: 488, pl. XXI (fig. 1) | Sanz Echeverría, 1935: 259, pl. XXX (fig. 1-2) | Schmidt, 1968: 18, pl. 3 (fig. 37), pl. 16.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Gadiformes
Family Gadidae
Genus Molva
Species Molva molva

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Molva molva (Linnaeus, 1758)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Molva molva (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms:

Gadus Molva Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. X: 254 ('Habitat in Oceano Europaeo').
Molva vulgaris Fleming, 1828, Hist. Brit. Anim.: 192 (British Isles).
Gadus raptor Nilsson, 1832, Prodr. Ichth. Scand.: 46 ('in sinu Codano hiemali tempore captam vidimus').
Gadus molva: Nilsson, 1832: 45.
Molva linnei Malm, 1877, Göteb. Bohusl. Fauna: 491 (Bohuslän, Göteborg).
Lota mola Moreau, 1881, Hist. nat. Poiss. Fr., 3: 258-260.
Molva vulgaris: Day, 1882, 1: 305, pl. LXXXVI Sund, in Andersson et al., 1942, 1: 189, pl. 57 (col.).
Molua molva: Smitt, 1893, 1: 526, fig. 124127, pl. XXVI (col. fig. 2).
Molva molva: Poll, 1947: 244, fig. 142 Svetovidov, 1948: 123, fig. 19, pl. V (fig. 1), pl. XXXVI, pl. LXIX (fig. 6) Andriashev, 1954: 151, fig. 741 Lozano Rey, 1960: 409, fig. 138a-b Wheeler, 1969: 284, fig. pl. 8 Tortonese, 1970: 394, fig. 157A Bini, 1970, 3: 87-88, col. fig.


Common names:

långa [Sv]
lange [Da]
lange [No]
Leng [De]
leng [Ne]
ling [En]
lingue [Fr]
maruca [Es]
molva [It]
molva [Ru]
morskaya stchuka [Ru]

Ancona, U. d'. 1933c. Gadidae, Berycoidei, Lampridae. In: Uova, larve e stadi giovanili di Teleostei. Fauna Flora Golfo Napoli, 38 :178-255, 280-306, fig. 167-226, 240-244, pl. XII-XV, XVII-XVIII.

Andersson, K. A., ed. 1942. Fiskar och fiske i Norden. 1, Fiskar och fiske i havet. Stockholm, xvi+540 pp., 83 col. pl., 230 fig. 2, Fiskar och Fiske i Sjör och Floder: pp. xvii-xxiv+541-1016, fig. 231-426, col. pl. 84-128. (New edition in 1954, 2: pp. 425-769, 190 fig., 42 col. pl.)

Andriashev, A. P. 1954. Ryby severnykh morei SSSR. Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR. Moskwa-Leningrad. (English trans. 1964, Jerusalem, IPST, 617 pp., 300 fig.)

Bini, G. 1967-1972. Atlante dei pesci delle Coste italiane. Mondo Sommerso, Milano, 9 vol: I, 1967, Leptocardi, Ciclostomi, Selaci, 206 pp., 66 fig. + 64 col. fig. II, 1971, Osteitti (Acipenseriformi, Clupeiformi, Mictofiformi, Anguilliformi), 300 pp., 73 col. fig. III, 1970, Notacantiformi . . . Zeiformi, 229 pp., 34 fig. + 63 col. fig. IV, 1968, Perciformi (Mugiloidei, Percoidei), 163 pp., 34 fig. + 49 col. fig. V, 1968, Perciformi (Percoidei), 175 pp., 22 fig. + 56 col. fig. VI, 1968, Perciformi (Trichiuroidei . . . Blennioidei), 177 pp., 48 fig + 57 col. fig. VII,1969, Perciformi (Ofidioidei . . . Dactilopteroidei), 196 pp., 57 fig. + 59 col. fig. VIII,1968, Pleuronettiformi, Echeniformi, Gobioesociformi, Tetraodontiformi, Lofiformi, 164 pp., 34 + 63 fig. IX, 1972, Introduzione. Parte generale. Aggiornamenti. Indici. 176 p.

Day, F. 1880-1884. The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland. London-Edinburgh, 2 vol., cxii+336 pp., 5 +7 fig., 92 pl. and 388 pp., 87 pl. 1880: 1(1): pp. 1-64, pl. I-XXVII; 1881: 1(2) (3): pp. 65-240, pl. XXVIII-LXVIII; 1882: 1(4): pp. 241-336, pl. LXIX-XCII; 2 (5): pp. 1-96, pl. XCIII-CXVI; 1883: 2 (6): pp. 97-176, pl. CXVII-CXXXII; 2 (7): pp. 177-272, pl. CXXXIII-CXLVIII; 1884: 2 (8): pp. 273-368, pl. CXLIX-CLXXIX.

Ehrenbaum, E. 1905-1909. Eier und Larven von Fischen der Nordischen Planktons, Teil I, 1905, 4: iv + I 1-I 216 + iii, fig. 1-82; Teil II, 1909, 10: I 217-I 413, fig. 83-147.

Fleming, J. 1828. A history of British animals exhibiting the descriptive characters and systematical arrangements of the genera and species of quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, mollusca and radiata of the U.K.; including the indigenous, extirpated and extinct kinds, together with periodical and occasional visitants. EdinburgLondon, xxiii + 565 pp. (2nd ed., 1842, same pag.).

Frost, G. A. 1926c. Comparative study of the otoliths of the Neopterygian Fishes (continued), XIII, Order Anacanthini. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., (9)18: 483-490, pl. XXII.

Fryd, G. 1901. Die Otolithen der Fische in Bezug auf ihre Bedeutung für Systematik und Altersbestimmung. Inaug. Diss., Kiel-Altona: 54 p., 14 fig.

Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae, ed. X, vol. 1, 824 pp. Nantes & Pisces: pp. 230-338. (Reprint, 1956, London.)

Lozano y Rey, L. 1960. Peces fisodistos. Tercera parte. Subseries Toracicos (Ordenes Equeneiformes y Gobiformes), Pediculados y Asimetricos. Mems R. Acad. Cienc. exact. fis. nat. Madr., ser.: Cienc. nat., 14: 613 pp., 173 fig., 7 pl.

Malm, A. W. 1877. Göteborg och Bohusläns fauna. Ryggradsdjuren. Göteborg, 674 p., 9 pl.

Moreau, E. 1881-1891. Histoire naturelle des poissons de la France, Paris, I, 1881: pp. I-VII+1-480, fig. 1-82; II, 1881: pp. 1-572, fig. 83-145; III, 1881: pp. 1-697, fig. 146-220; Suppl., 1891: pp. 1-144, fig. 221-227.

Nilsson, S. 1832. Prodromus Ichthyologiae Scandinavicae, Lund: iv+124 p.

Poll, M. 1947. Poissons marins in Faune de Belgique. Bruxelles, 452 pp., 267 fig., 2 pl., 2 maps n. num. (inset).

Sanz Echeverria, J. 1935. Otolitos de los peces gadiformes de España. Boln R. Soc. esp. Hist. nat., 3S (5): 245-274, pl. XXIX-XXXI.

Schmidt, E. J. 1905-1906. The pelagic post-larval stages of the Atlantic species of Gadus, Part I. Meddr. Kommn Havunders., Ser.: Fisk., 1905, 1(4): 77 pp., 16 fig., 3 pl.; Part II, ibid., 1906, 2 (2): 20 pp., pl. I.

Schmidt, E. J. 1906c. On the pelagic post-larval stages of the lings (Molva molva (Linne) and Molva byrkelange (Walbaum)). Meddr.Kommn Havunders.,Ser.: Fisk., 2(3): 16pp., pl. I.

Schmidt, W. 1968. Vergleichend morphologische Studie über die Otolithen mariner Knochenfische. Arch. FischWiss., 19 (1): pp. 1-96, 184 fig., 25 pl.

Smitt, F. A. 1893-1895. (ed.) A history of Scandinavian fishes, Stockholm and Paris, Atlas, I, 1893, pl. i-xxvii.

Svetovidov, A. N. 1948. [Gadiformes. Fauna U.S.S.R., Fishes], 9 (2): 222 pp., 39 fig., pl. I-LXXII (in Russian, transl. Jerusalem, 1962, 232 pp.).

Tortonese, E. 1970e. Osteichthyes (Pesci ossei), Parte Prima. Fauna Ital., 10, Calderini, Bologna, 565 pp., 198 fig.

Wheeler, A. 1969. The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe. Macmillan, London, Melbourne and Toronto: pp. i-xvii+1-163, 5+177 fig., 392 fig. (princ. sp.), 92 n. num. fig., 16 pl., maps.

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