The rock cod (Lotella rhacina) is a temperate fish found off the coasts of southeastern Australia, Tasmania, the Great Australian Bight and northwards up the south western Australia coasts. They are also found around the coasts of New Zealand. They belong to the family Moridae and are not related to the true cods (genus Gadus). They are also known as beardie in Australia.
Rock cod are yellow-grey to red-brown with white fin margins. They have chin barbels. They may grow up to 50cm in length. They are found in caves in bays and coastal reefs. They are frequently found inshore and inhabit shallow waters in the continental shelf with typical depth of 10 to 90 metres.
Note that there are many other fish that are sometimes referred to as rock cod, but most of these are unrelated to the cod family, and are better known as groupers.
Famous quotes containing the word rock:
“So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He can’t even get to the office without undergoing the agonies of the damned, but give him a little metal, a few chemicals, some wire and twenty or thirty billion dollars and, vroom! there he is, up on a rock a quarter of a million miles up in the sky.”
—Russell Baker (b. 1925)