Trisopterus minutus

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	ACTINOPTERYGII	GADIFORMES	GADIDAE

Scientific Name:

Trisopterus minutus

Species Authority:

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Common Name/s:

English	–	Poor Cod
French	–	Capailla, Capelan, Capelan de France, Capelan de Mediterranée, Capelan de Méditerranée, Capelin, Petit Tacaud
Spanish	–	Capella, Capellan, Capellán, Faneca Menor, Mollera

Synonym/s:

Brachygadus minutus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Gadulus minutus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Gadus capelanus Lacepède, 1800

Gadus minutus Linnaeus, 1758

Gadus tacaud Lacepède, 1800

Morua capelanus Risso, 1827

Trisopterus luscus capelanus (Lacepède, 1800)

Trisopterus minutus capelanus (Lacepède, 1800)

Trisopterus minutus minutus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published:	2010
Assessor/s:	Herdson, D.
Reviewer/s:	Collen, B., Richman, N., Beresford, A., Chenery, A. & Ram, M.
Contributor/s:	De Silva, R., Milligan, H., Lutz, M., Batchelor, A., Jopling, B., Kemp, K., Lewis, S., Lintott, P., Sears, J., Wilson, P. & Smith, J. and Livingston, F.
Justification: The Poor Cod (Trisopterus minutus) has been assessed as Least Concern. This broadly distributed species has been described as one of the most abundant species within its range. There is no known large-scale fishery for this species, although it is harvested in some regions as a food source. Monitoring of the harvest levels and population numbers of this species is needed, so that any change in the levels of exploitation can be noted.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	The Poor Cod (Trisopterus minutus) is distributed across the western Mediterranean Sea and along the coast of Europe, from Morocco and Gibraltar, to Trondheim Fjord (Svetovidov 1986).
Countries:	Native: Belgium; Denmark; France; Germany; Ireland; Italy; Malta; Monaco; Morocco; Netherlands; Norway; Portugal; Spain; Sweden; Tunisia; United Kingdom
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:	Native: Atlantic – eastern central; Atlantic – northeast; Mediterranean and Black Sea
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	A study of demersal fish populations around the coasts of the UK and northwestern Europe found Poor Cod to be one of the most abundant demersal fish species (Rogers et al. 1998).
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	The Poor Cod occurs in small schools over muddy or sandy bottoms at depths of 15-200 m (120 m in the Mediterranean), though it can be found as deep as 400 m (Cohen et al. 1990). Its diet consists of crustaceans and small fish (Svetovidov 1986). Maturity is reached at one year of age, and spawning takes place from winter to spring.
Systems:	Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	The Poor Cod is considered locally abundant and it is not heavily fished (Cohen et al. 1990). However, studies of Turkish trawlers found that the equipment did not allow juvenile Poor Cod to escape, but took both adult and immature individuals (Ozbilgin et al. 2005). The harvesting of this species is not considered to be a major threat, as it is of minor commercial importance, and harvesting does not occur throughout its entire range. It has also been described as one of the most abundant demersal species throughout most of its range.

Major Threat(s):

The Poor Cod is considered locally abundant and it is not heavily fished (Cohen et al. 1990). However, studies of Turkish trawlers found that the equipment did not allow juvenile Poor Cod to escape, but took both adult and immature individuals (Ozbilgin et al. 2005). The harvesting of this species is not considered to be a major threat, as it is of minor commercial importance, and harvesting does not occur throughout its entire range. It has also been described as one of the most abundant demersal species throughout most of its range.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	There are no known species-specific conservation measures in place for Poor Cod. Monitoring of the harvest levels and population numbers of this species is needed.

Conservation Actions:

There are no known species-specific conservation measures in place for Poor Cod. Monitoring of the harvest levels and population numbers of this species is needed.

Citation:	Herdson, D. 2010. Trisopterus minutus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 20 June 2013.
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