Wolffish

With its sharp canines, powerful jaws, and carnivorous lifestyle, the wolffish has a fearsome and devil-like appearance that lets you know it is a true predator of the sea. The name derives from its resemblance to the famous canine wolf species, but the similarities end there. The wolffish is a rather solitary hunter that forms tight-knit bonds with its mate. It is also an ambush predator and not a pack animal. The wolffish is an unfortunate victim of humanity’s destructive fishing practices, and several species are now in peril.

Quick Facts

• Scientific Family: Anarhichadidae
• Number of Species: 5 (across 2 genera)
• Habitat: North Atlantic & North Pacific, 1,000–2,000 ft depths
• Diet: Crabs, clams, urchins, starfish, other hard-shelled prey
• Unique Adaptation: Antifreeze proteins in blood allow survival in icy waters
• Lifespan: 12 – 20 years
• Conservation: Several species are listed as vulnerable or threatened

4 Incredible Wolffish Facts!

• The wolf fish is also known as the sea wolf, devil fish, or wolf eel in some places.
• The wolf fish can thrive in the Arctic regions as far north as Greenland. It has evolved antifreeze proteins that circulate in the blood to keep its body functioning properly in the cold waters of the north.
• These fish have a very powerful bite force that can crush the hard shells of mollusks and crustaceans almost instantly. Curiously, it does not usually hunt or feed on the soft flesh of other fish.
• This fish doesn’t have a swim bladder or a bladder full of air. As a result, they tend to rest on the seafloor or in crevices, as they would sink if they tried to float.

Scientific Classification

The wolffish belong to the family Anarhichadidae. This apparently derives from a Greek term meaning climb up and possibly refers to their elongated body shape.

Furthermore, they belong to the order Scorpaeniformes, following recent taxonomic revisions. They are most closely related to eelpouts, gunnels, and quillfish.

Evolution and Origins

The origin of the wolffish can be found roughly 50 million years ago when the Anarhichadidae family first appeared. Natural selection and adaptation to their habitat, which includes dwelling at extreme depths and in freezing water temperatures, are likely to have led to these fish’s current shape.

The wolffish have evolved to have their distinctively pointed teeth, strong jaws, and other physical features that help them hunt and survive in their aquatic environments. They have large canine teeth for gripping prey, as well as molar-like crushing teeth for cracking shells.

Furthermore, the Atlantic wolffish can live for up to twenty years and have a delayed reproductive cycle, as they are unable to reproduce until they reach eight to ten years of age. This makes populations vulnerable to overfishing.

Species of Wolffish

Appearance

These fish appear quite ugly, grizzled, and almost devil-like to the human eye, but looks can be deceiving. There is nothing particularly aggressive about the wolffish compared to any other carnivore, whether appealing or not to our visual senses.

The wolffish is characterized by its incredibly long body (up to 7.5 feet), a big head, slender tail, powerful jaws that can inflict a painful wolffish bite, and multiple rows of teeth, some of which project outward from the mouth even when it’s closed.

The most common colors are blue, gray, brown, and olive green, sometimes accompanied by stripes along the side of the body. It has very rudimentary and reduced scales, almost hidden in the skin.

Most species have a long dorsal fin running the entire length of the back and another fin covering much of the stomach and pelvic areas. The wolffish moves through the water very slowly by waving its body back and forth like an eel.

Distribution and Habitat

The wolffish resides in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in deep, cold waters at depths between 1,000 feet and 2,000 feet. For most of the day, the wolffish lie patiently in crevices or caves to surprise and ambush unsuspecting prey that happens to pass by. This sedentary lifestyle is a deliberate tactic to kill prey in the most efficient manner possible since the wolffish is not very fast. The wolffish play a key ecological role by controlling sea urchin and crustacean populations, helping to maintain kelp forests.

Behavior, Predators, and Prey

The wolffish is an opportunistic bottom feeder that will wait for the prey to come to it. With its sharp canines, the wolffish’s bite aids it in eating sea creatures that are otherwise tough to consume.

The wolffish is well-adapted for crunching into the tough shells of crabs, clams, sea urchins, starfish, and other hard-shelled prey. It plays an important role in the ecosystem by keeping these fast-reproducing creatures in check.

Because of its size and the ferocity of the wolffish bite, the wolffish has relatively few regular predators besides sharks and humans. Even then, it is hardly the first choice of prey, because the wolffish can inflict a very painful bite on humans or any other creature in defense of itself. Otherwise, though, it is not very aggressive.

Reproduction and Lifespan

These fish have a rather unusual reproduction cycle. In the spawning season, which peaks around September and October, it forms bonded pairs and sometimes even mates for life. Unlike many species of fish, in which the females release unfertilized eggs into the water, the wolffish fertilizes the eggs internally. The female then lays thousands of eggs in huge masses between seaweed or in crevices.

It takes around three to nine months for the eggs to fully hatch. Both parents play a pivotal role in raising the young, but the father has the main task of protecting the larvae in the nest for the next few months before they become independent.

The young fry reaches sexual maturity at a relatively late age of five or sometimes even more (this late maturity also means that it takes time for numbers to recover when they fall, complicating conservation efforts). The typical wolffish has a life expectancy of 12 to 20 years.

Conservation Status

Several species of wolffish have been threatened by humans. It is rarely consumed in large enough quantities for overfishing to be a problem, but in some parts of the Atlantic (especially the western Atlantic), population numbers have declined drastically as a result of habitat destruction and accidental catches.

Bottom trawling disrupts habitats and catches everything in its path, including huge masses of wolffish eggs, which may eradicate an entire generation of the species. One scientist estimated that trawling affected every inch of the New England seafloor between 1984 and 1990.

And even when it doesn’t affect the wolffish directly, trawling will catch other animals, thus reducing the abundance of prey on which the wolffish relies for survival. Without appropriate conservation and population management efforts, some wolffish are facing the real possibility of extinction. They are now a protected species in parts of the US and Europe.

Wolffish and Humans

The Atlantic wolffish, like the northern and spotted wolffish, is often caught in commercial fishermen’s nets as bycatch. This means the commercial fishermen don’t intend to catch them, but they end up in the nets with other fish in the environment. The population and habitat of these fish are also under threat from nets used for bottom trawling. These nets disrupt their eggs, the adults, and the elements of their habitat.

The Atlantic wolffish is a target of recreational fishermen due to its appealing taste. The Atlantic wolffish has a sweet flavor that some have compared to lobster. It’s usually baked, grilled, or broiled. They are low in calories but high in fat and protein. There are 10 to 15 tonnes of these caught each year. Also, there are approximately 1,000 tonnes of spotted wolffish caught each year. Wolffish are commonly baked, grilled, or broiled.

Example Dishes:

• Baked Wolffish
• Wolffish with Spring Onion and Soy Ginger
• Wolffish with Dill Mustard Sauce