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Micromesistius australis Norman, 1937

Southern blue whiting
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Micromesistius australis   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Micromesistius australis (Southern blue whiting)
Micromesistius australis
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Common names from other countries

Merlan bleu austral, Polaca austral, Путассу южная, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Gadiformes (Cods) > Gadidae (Cods and haddocks)
Etymology: Micromesistius: Greek, mikros = small + greek, mesos = middle + Greek, istion = sail (Ref. 45335).
  More on author: Norman.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; benthopelagic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 50 - 900 m (Ref. 27363), usually 200 - 400 m (Ref. 7061).   Temperate; 37°S - 65°S, 165°E - 34°W (Ref. 54589)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

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.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 33.7, range 33 - 40 cm
Max length : 90.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1371); common length : 60.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1371); max. published weight: 850.00 g (Ref. 4883); max. reported age: 30 years (Ref. 7059)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 43 - 55; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 56 - 71; Vertebrae: 54 - 57.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Invades shelf waters during summer and concentrating over the continental slope in winter. Forms schools (Ref. 9072). The young feed on euphausiids and amphipods and occasionally on copepods, cephalopods and small fish. Utilized in frozen blocks and as fishmeal. In Japan used as suerii (minced meat) for karaoke (fish cake) (Ref. 27363). Can be fried, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Oviparous, sexes are separate (Ref. 205).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Cohen, D.M., T. Inada, T. Iwamoto and N. Scialabba, 1990. FAO species catalogue. Vol. 10. Gadiform fishes of the world (Order Gadiformes). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cods, hakes, grenadiers and other gadiform fishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(10). Rome: FAO. 442 p. (Ref. 1371)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial
FAO(Fisheries: production, species profile; publication : search) | FIRMS (Stock assessments) | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | GOBASE | | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 3.4 - 9.1, mean 5.8 (based on 109 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.7500   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00372 (0.00223 - 0.00619), b=3.14 (2.99 - 3.29), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.8   ±0.50 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.18; tm=2-5; tmax=30).
Prior r = 0.54, 95% CL = 0.36 - 0.82, Based on 5 data-limited stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (52 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate to high vulnerability (53 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.