Micromesistius poutassou

The blue whiting one of the two species in the genus Micromesistius in the order of Gadiformes, which also contains cod, haddock, whiting, and pollock. It is common in the northeast Atlantic Ocean from Morocco to Iceland and Spitsbergen. It also occurs in the northern parts of the Mediterranean, where it may be locally abundant. Blue whiting also occur in the northwest Atlantic Ocean between Canada and Greenland, but is considered rare. It has a long, narrow body and a silvery underbody. The fish can attain a length of more than 40 cm. The average length of blue whiting caught off the west shores of the UK is 31 cm.

Micromesistius poutassou

Gervais et Boulart · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
blue whitingPBDB
Sits inside
MicromesistiusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Gadiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Gadiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Gadiformes

Time the record covers

At least 2.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 129 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 17 occurrencesPliocene — about 7 of 17 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 10 of 17 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 17 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.6 Mya774 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

17 occurrences of Micromesistius poutassou on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

17 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Lindos Bay — 36.09°N, 28.01°ELindos Bay — 36.26°N, 28.17°ELindos Bay — 36.36°N, 28.21°ELindos — 36.07°N, 28.05°EArgille Azzurre — 43.31°N, 11.49°E

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The named rock units Micromesistius poutassou has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Micromesistius poutassou and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Micromesistius poutassou and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

220 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 17 sites for Micromesistius poutassou, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

7 references

Each of the 17 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Micromesistius poutassou

Credit
Gervais et Boulart
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Micromesistius poutassou was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMicromesistius through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Risso 1827)