Burbot

Lota lota

The burbot is the only freshwater species of the cod family and its range extends to northern North America, Europe, and Asia. The burbot posesses the unique feature of spawning in midwinter under the ice in lakes and sometimes rivers. The actual spawning event is said to occur at night, whereby 10 - 12 individual burbot merge to form a writhing and intertwined ball approximately two feet in diameter. Burbot grow to be as large as 9 kg in Canada, and are well known for their voracious feeding habits on invertebrates as well as fish; in a recent study, the stomach of one burbot contained 179 individual fish!