Blue Whiting

Also known as Poutassou, Couch's Whiting

Blue whiting gather in immense, dense schools along continental slopes and deep shelf breaks, undertaking dramatic vertical migrations from daytime depths of up to a kilometer into upper water layers at night to feed. In late winter, adults congregate west of Ireland and the British Isles for massive spawning events that disperse trillions of buoyant eggs into Atlantic currents. Serving as a foundational mid-trophic link in north Atlantic food webs, they convert planktonic crustaceans into abundant prey for marine mammals, larger predatory fish, and industrial pelagic fisheries.