The southern blue whiting, Micromesistius australis, is a cod of the genus Micromesistius, found in the southern oceans where the temperature is between 3° and 7°C, at depths of between 50 and 900 m. Its length is between 30 and 90 cm, and maximum weight of 850 g.
| Southern blue whiting | |
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| Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling | |
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| Species: | M. australis
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| Binomial name | |
| Micromesistius australis Norman, 1937
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The southern blue whiting is an elongate fish with a pointed snout and no barbel. There are three widely spaced dorsal fins, and two anal fins. Males have much longer pelvic fins than the females.
The mouth is relatively large with small teeth, ideally suited for feeding on planktonic crustaceans such as amphipods and krill.
Coloration is light bluish on the back with a scattering of small black dots, and silver-white below.
There are 2 disjunct populations:
- Micromesistius australis australis occurs around the Falkland Islands and Argentine Patagonia in the southwest Atlantic; off Chile in the southeast Pacific; also off South Georgia, South Shetland and South Orkney Islands.
- Micromesistius australis pallidus occurs around the South Island of New Zealand.
References
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Micromesistius australis". FishBase. February 2006 version.
- Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8