Log in Sign up
Back to Discover
🧬

Pollock

life science Maturity 5-7

Pollock is a fish in the sea.

Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
It lives near rocks in deep water. Some have dark backs and white bellies. We can eat this fish for dinner. It is in many stores.
Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
Have you ever eaten fish?

45 words

Pollock is a fish in the sea.

Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
Some live near rocks in deep water. One kind has a dark green back. It also has a white belly.
Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
Another kind has a gold belly. It has a dark brown back. This fish has a crooked line on its side. It also has a big underbite. People eat this fish for dinner. You can find it in stores. It is used to make fish fingers. It can even make fake crab meat. These fish are good to eat.

93 words

Pollock is a name for two types of fish. They live in the North Atlantic ocean.

Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG

One type is called *Pollachius pollachius*. It has a dark brown back. It also has a gold belly. This fish has a crooked line on its side. It even has a strong underbite.

Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg

The other type is *Pollachius virens*. People also call it saithe or coalfish. It has a silver line on its side. Its back is greenish black. Its belly is white. These fish can grow quite large. The saithe can weigh up to 15 kilograms. The other kind can weigh up to 10 kilograms.

Many people eat pollock for food. It is a whitefish. You can find it in supermarkets. It is used to make fish fingers. It is also used in imitation crab meat. People in Norway make fried fish balls with it. In Germany, people salt and smoke the coalfish. This makes it look orange like salmon. People can eat this fish safely. It is a low-mercury fish. This means it does not have much mercury in it.

185 words

Pollock is a name for two types of fish. These fish live in the North Atlantic ocean.

Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
They belong to a group called the genus Pollachius. People use this name for many different marine fish. This group is important because people catch them for food. They are often called whitefish.
Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg

Each fish looks a little bit different. One type is called Pollachius pollachius. It has a dark brown back and a golden belly. This fish also has a crooked line on its side. It even has a strong underbite.

Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
The other type is Pollachius virens. This fish has a silvery lateral line on its side. A lateral line is a line that runs down the side of a fish. Its back is greenish black and its belly is white.

Scientists first named these species a long time ago. Linnaeus named both types in the year 1758.

Global total production pollock.png
Global total production pollock.png
The name Pollachius virens is also known as saithe or coley. Some people call it coalfish too. In Great Britain, people might call it Boston blue. This fish can grow to be quite large. The saithe can weigh up to 15 kilograms. The other kind can weigh up to 10 kilograms.

People eat pollock in many different ways around the world.

Global total production pollock.png
Global total production pollock.png
In Norway, people make fried fish balls with it. In Shetland, they might fry small fish with oatmeal. In Orkney, people split and salt the fish. They dry them over a peat hearth. This makes the fish feel like wood. In Germany, people salt and smoke the coalfish. This makes the fish look orange like salmon.

Pollock is a very common fish in supermarkets today. You might find it as fresh fillets in the store. It is often used to make fish fingers. It is also an ingredient in imitation crab meat. Many people choose pollock because it is a low-mercury fish. This means it has a small amount of mercury. A woman weighing 70 kilograms can eat 170 grams per week. A child weighing 25 kilograms can eat 50 grams per week.

358 words

Pollock is a common name for two species of marine fish. These fish live in the North Atlantic ocean.

Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
They belong to the genus Pollachius. These fish are important because they are caught for food globally. Most people consider Atlantic pollock to be a type of whitefish. This means the meat is light in color.
Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
Because they are versatile, they are found in many supermarkets. You can buy them as fresh fillets or frozen items.

There are two distinct species within the genus Pollachius. The first is Pollachius pollachius, named by Linnaeus in 1758. In North America and the United Kingdom, people call this species pollock. It is also known as the Atlantic pollock or European pollock.

Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
The second species is Pollachius virens, also named by Linnaeus in 1758. In Great Britain, this species is often called saithe or coley. It is also known as coalfish. Some people even call it Boston blue or silver bill.

Each species has physical traits that help you tell them apart. Pollachius virens has a very strong, silvery lateral line. This lateral line is a line that runs down the side of the fish. Above this line, the fish is a greenish black color. Its belly is white.

Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
Pollachius pollachius looks different from its relative. It has a dark brown back and a grayish to golden belly. Its lateral line is distinctly crooked. This species also has a strong underbite.

These fish can grow to be quite large and heavy. Pollachius virens can reach a weight of up to 15 kilograms. Pollachius pollachius can grow to weigh up to 10 kilograms.

Global total production pollock.png
Global total production pollock.png
Both species can be found in water deeper than 100 meters. They often live near rocks. They can also be found anywhere in the water column. This flexibility helps them thrive in different parts of the ocean.

People have many traditional ways of preparing these fish. In Norway, the slightly grey color of pollock leads people to make fried fish balls. In Shetland, people bread juvenile-sized fish with oatmeal and fry them. In Orkney, one-year-old fish are split, salted, and dried. They are dried over a peat hearth until the texture becomes wooden.

Global total production pollock.png
Global total production pollock.png
In Germany, coalfish is salted and smoked. This process gives the fish an orange color like salmon. Because of this, it is sometimes sold as "sea salmon."

Pollock is a major part of the commercial fishing industry.

Global total production pollock.png
Global total production pollock.png
In the United Kingdom, it was once a cheaper alternative to cod or haddock. Recently, it has become more popular because of the overfishing of those other fish. In 2009, the supermarket Sainsbury's tried to boost sales of Atlantic pollock. They renamed it "colin," which comes from the French word for cooked pollock. They used the slogan "Colin and chips can save British cod."

Health is also an important factor when eating pollock. It is regarded as a low-mercury fish. Mercury is a metal that can be found in some seafood. For a woman weighing 70 kilograms, it is safe to eat up to 170 grams per week. For a child weighing 25 kilograms, the safe amount is 50 grams per week. This makes it a common ingredient in many prepared foods. You might find it minced in fish fingers or used in imitation crab meat.

569 words
🖼️ Images & Media (3)
File:Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
Pollachius pollachius NO.JPG
File:Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
Pollachius virens 218207213 (cropped).jpg
File:Global total production pollock.png
Global total production pollock.png
Up Next
🧬
Cod
Life Science
More to explore

🔬 Go deeper

More advanced topics to explore

🪜 Step back

Simpler topics to build understanding

What is Nepedia?

A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.