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The burbot ( Lota lota), also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, or eelpout, is a species of coldwater fish ray-finned fish native to the subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the monotypic of the genus Lota, and is the only freshwater fish species of the order Gadiformes. The species is closely related to marine fish such as the common ling and cusk, all of which belong to the family Lotidae (rocklings).
Although it appear scaleless, the burbot bears minute, nearly microscopic scales. They are relatively long-lived and slow-growing; in Alaska, It generally takes 5-7 years for the burbot to reach the length of 18 inches, individuals typically reach sexual maturity at 6-7 years of age and it is not uncommon to find individuals over 20 years old.
As broadcast spawners, burbot do not have an explicit nesting site, but rather release eggs and sperm into the water column to drift and settle. When spawning, many male burbot gather around one or two females, forming a spawning ball. Writhing in the open water, males and females simultaneously release sperm and eggs. Depending on water temperatures, the incubation period of the eggs lasts from 30 to 128 days. Fertilized eggs then drift until they settle into cracks and voids in the substrate.
Depending on body size, female burbot fecundity ranges from 63,000 to 3,478,000 eggs for each clutch. Rate of growth, longevity, and age of sexual maturity of burbot are strongly correlated with water temperature; large, older individuals produce more eggs than small, younger individuals. Eggs are round with a large oil globule, about in diameter and have an optimal incubation range between .
Newly hatched burbot larvae are pelagic, passively drifting in the open water. Habitats near are optimal for burbot and they prefer water temperatures of and lower. By night, juveniles are active, taking shelter during the day under rocks and other debris. Growing rapidly in their first year, burbot reach between in total length by late fall. During their second year of life, burbot on average grow another .
Burbot transition from pelagic habitats to benthic environments as they reach adulthood, around five years old. Average length of burbot by maturity is about , with slight sexual dimorphism. Maximum lengths range between , and weights range from .
The burbot is edible. In Finland, its roe and liver are highly regarded as delicacies, as is the fish itself. An annual spearfishing tournament is held near Roblin, Manitoba. One of the highlights of the tournament is the fish fry, where the day's catch is served deep-fried. When cooked, burbot meat tastes very similar to American lobster, leading to the burbot's nickname of "poor man's lobster".
In the 1920s, Minnesota druggist Theodore "Ted" H. Rowell and his father, Joseph Rowell, a commercial fisherman on Lake of the Woods, were using the burbot as feed for the foxes on Joe's Arctic fox farm. They discovered the burbot contained something that improved the quality of the foxes' furs; this was confirmed by the fur buyers, who commented that these furs were superior to other blue fox furs they were seeing. Ted Rowell felt it was something in the burbot, so he extracted some oil and sent it away to be assayed. The result of the assay was that the liver of the burbot has three to four times the potency in vitamin D, and four to 10 times in vitamin A, than "good grades" of cod-liver oil. Their vitamin content varies from lake to lake, where their diets may have some variation. Additionally, liver makes up about 10% of the fish's total body weight, and its liver is six times the size of those of freshwater fish of comparable size. The oil is lower in viscosity, and more rapidly digested and assimilated than most other fish-liver oils. Rowell went on to found the Burbot Liver Products Company, which later became Rowell Laboratories, Inc.
The burbot is a tenacious predator, which sometimes attacks other fish of almost the same size, and as such, can be a nuisance fish in waters where it is not native. Recent discoveries of burbot in the Green River at Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Utah have concerned wildlife biologists, who fear the burbot could decimate the sport-fish population in what is recognized as one of the world's top brown trout fisheries, because it often feeds on the eggs of other fish in the lake, such as sockeye salmon. The Utah Division of Fish and Game has instituted a "no release" "catch and kill" regulation for the burbot in Utah waterways. However, the regulations have been found to be largely unenforceable.
The town of Walker, Minnesota, holds an International Eelpout Festival every winter on Leech Lake."Annual International Eelpout Festival." Annual International Eelpout Festival. 26 April 2008. 29 May 2008 [2] The festival received national attention on 4 March 2011, when a correspondent from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno did a segment on the event.
Since the burbot lacks popularity in commercial fishing, many regions do not undertake management planning. Pollution and habitat change, such as river damming, appear to be the primary causes for riverine burbot population declines, while pollution and the adverse effects of invasive species have the greatest influence on lacustrine populations. Management of burbot is low priority, and non-existent in some regions.
The Kootenai tribe of Idaho and their partners undertook conservation efforts to enhance burbot populations in their region.
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