Family GadidaeCods Selected Characters: Body elongate; three dorsal fins and two anal fins in our species; no fin spines; chin barbel sometimes present. This family is found primarily in cold seas (of the 30 species, one is found in freshwater). Cods often swim in schools at moderate to deep depths and feed on a variety of invertebrates and fishes. Three of the thirty species occur in Puget Sound. The Pacific Cod is very commercially important. The Pacific Tomcod is prized as a food fish, but is not numerous or large enough to support its own fishery. The Walleye Pollock is not a highly desirable food fish in our region, but it is eaten elsewhere and is also used as feed on mink farms. Cods are common in Puget Sound. Puget Sound Species Gadus macrocephalus Pacific Cod Microgadus proximus Pacific Tomcod Theragra chalcogramma Walleye Pollock |