REDFISH | The Big Redfish has 14-16 dorsal fins (usually 15) with spines and 13-16 (usually 14-15) rays; anal fin with 3 spines and 7-10 (mostly 8) rays; pectoral fin with 18-21 (mostly 19) rays; 31-39 (more often 34) scales on lateral line. Vertebrae 30-32.

SIZE | The big Red Fish can become 100 cm long, usually 30-35 cm.

DEPTH | The juveniles are living in the fjords, bays and inshore waters; the adults are found off the coast at 100-1,000 meters. At great depths, the fish have a larger size than in shallow waters.

COLOUR | Bright red with a dusky area on the posterior part of the opercle.

FOOD | In summer, mostly euphausiids; in autumn and winter, herrings; in spring, capelings, herrings, euphausiids and ctenophores.

REPRODUCTION | Ovoviviparous; insemination of the females in August-September (Barents Sea) and from October to January (off Iceland and Greenland); fertilization of the ripe oocytes during Feburary and March; release of larvae from April to June or even to August.

WHERE TO CATCH IT | The big Red Fish breeds in the Clofnam area, off Iceland and western Greenland (18 specimens known). Elsewhere from the south-eastern coast of Labrador southward to latitude of Long I. See the map below for further areas.