Red Cod

How to identify red cod

• A fleshy barbel under the chin.
• A black spot at the top of the pectoral fin base that runs onto the body. This is the quickest check.
• Two soft dorsal fins with no spines, and a long anal fin.
• A square-cut tail with distinct corners in adults.
• Reddish brown above, silvery pink on the sides and pale below, with dark edges to the fins.

Red cod have a long, soft body with two dorsal fins and no spines, a long anal fin and a fleshy barbel under the chin, which they use to find prey buried in sand and mud. Fresh fish are reddish brown above, silvery pink on the sides and pale underneath. The scales are soft and come off easily, and the skin is slimy.

The surest mark is a black, half-moon spot at the top of the pectoral fin base that extends onto the side of the body. The dorsal fins have a fine black edge and the tail a broader, smudged one. Adults have a square-cut tail with distinct corners; young fish have a more rounded tail.

The colour changes fast. A red cod struggling on the hook darkens to a deep wine red, which is where the scientific name bachus (after Bacchus, the god of wine) comes from. Once the fish dies the colour fades to a greyish pink.

Where it lives in New Zealand

Red cod are found only in New Zealand, around both main islands and out to the Chatham Islands. They live over soft sand and mud, and also over rocky ground and in bays and estuaries, from about 2 m down to 570 m. Most are found well offshore at 100 to 300 m, but they move inshore in spring and summer.

They are most common around the South Island. The main commercial fishery is in the Canterbury Bight and off Banks Peninsula, where feeding schools arrive around November and have usually moved to deeper water by about June. There is a smaller fishery off the West Coast of the South Island. Red cod feed mainly on small fish, squid and octopus, crabs and other crustaceans.

How to catch it

Red cod are caught from beaches, rocks and boats over sand and mud, especially around the South Island and the lower North Island in spring and summer. Fish a running or dropper rig on the bottom with small hooks around 2/0 to 4/0.

They are not fussy feeders. Canterbury surfcasters find mussel, jack mackerel, barracouta and mullet baits all work, and pilchard, squid and kahawai strips catch them too. Many anglers catch red cod while fishing for something else, so expect them as bycatch when you are after gurnard, blue cod or kahawai.

Eating

Red cod has soft, moist white flesh with a mild flavour and little oil. It flakes easily, so it is best fried, baked, steamed or smoked rather than barbecued, and it is a classic fish and chip fish. The soft flesh doesn't keep well, so bleed and ice it straight away and eat it fresh.

Good to know

Red cod grow fast and live only a few years. They reach about 25 cm in their first year and mature at around 52 cm and 2–3 years old, and few fish in the commercial catch are older than six. Females grow faster and larger than males. In the Canterbury Bight they spawn from August to October, possibly in deep water.

Because the catch depends on just two or three year classes, numbers swing a lot from year to year. Red cod has been in the Quota Management System since 1986, and its catch limits can be raised during a season when a strong year class turns up. Recent years have been poor: the 2024 east coast South Island trawl survey and the 2023 west coast survey both found the lowest numbers in their series, and commercial landings in 2023–24 were 827 tonnes against a limit of 8,278 tonnes.

Recreational catches have fallen too. National surveys estimated that recreational fishers kept about 30,000 red cod in 2017–18, but only about 2,500 in 2022–23.

Questions

How do you tell red cod from blue cod?

Red cod are reddish pink with a chin barbel, a black spot at the base of the pectoral fin and two soft dorsal fins. Blue cod are blue-grey to green, have no barbel and have a single long dorsal fin. Red cod live mostly over sand and mud, blue cod on reef, and red cod flesh is much softer.

Is red cod good to eat?

It is a good fish and chip fish. The flesh is soft, white and mild, with little oil, so it suits frying, baking, steaming, fish cakes and smoking. It doesn't keep well, so bleed it, ice it and eat it fresh.

Why do red cod change colour?

Red cod darken to a deep wine red while struggling on the line, and the colour fades to greyish pink soon after death. The scientific name bachus, after Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, refers to that red colour.

Is red cod a real cod?

No. Red cod belong to the morid cod family (Moridae), not the true cods (Gadidae) of the North Atlantic. They aren't related to blue cod either, which belong to a different family altogether.

What is the Māori name for red cod?

Hoka. Te Aka Māori Dictionary also gives hoka for ling, so the same name covers both fish.

How much does a red cod weigh?

Using the Fisheries New Zealand length-to-weight formula, a 40 cm red cod weighs about 600 g, a 50 cm fish about 1.2 kg and a 60 cm fish about 2 kg.