Lumpsuckers

Yesterday was a fairly productive day, with various trawls yielding some decent catches.  We did a couple midwater water trawls (~300m) as well as a surface trawl (<20m).  The deeper trawls yielded mainly haddock, but also the occasional cod and a redfish or two.

A Cod Amongst The Haddock

A Redfish Living Up To His Name

The shallower trawl contained mainly capelin (an anchovy-like species).  Edible, if you're into that kind of thing.  They have a high fat content so smoke nicely and are good as bait (as you can see one of the crew members gathering a bagful for this purpose).  

Surface Trawl Full Of Capelin

The catch also contained lumpsuckers.  This weird bastard is apparently one of the most frequently caught species (in occurance, not quantity) in these northern surveys.  This particular species was dark blue with a lighter bluish-green belly.  They are solid and feel like they could be used as a football (no headers) at a push.  The roe (eggs) is, apparently, an affordable alternative to sturgeon caviar, and is used extensively in Scandinavian cuisine.  So the next time you are having caviar, remember that you could be eating this things eggs!

A Lumpsucker: Gnarly

Belly Blue

A Face To Match The Name