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Here ARS Biologists can report Shorter Papers
and Notes on Ecological Findings Concerning Rare & Little-studied Fish Species.
Record Size, Diet and a New Distribution
Record for the Bering Wolffish, Anarhichas orientalis (Pisces, Anarhichadidae), at Uyak Bay, Kodiak
Island, Alaska.
Bradford R. Norman
380 Cooper Avenue
Crescent City,CA 95531 USA
Little has been published on the biology of the Bering Wolfish (Anarhichas orientalis). No species account is included in the "Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes of
North America" by Eschmeyer, Herald & Hammann (1983), but the familial relative the Wolf-eel (Anarhichadidae: Anarrhichthys ocellatus), which has similar teeth and a different fin arrangement is
described, even though their coverage claims to include the Gulf of Alaska, (see their Page 1).
Kessler (1985) dedicates a single page (page 91) to the species, and provides a clear photograph.
Regarding its occurence, he states: "Uncommon north , not found south of the Alaska Peninsula; an artic species, common
only near the northern boundary of this area." This does not include Kodiak Island, per se. His "This Area" is
represented on his Map of Area Covered after the Preface on page vii (Figure 1 in Table 1 below):
Table 1 (Figures 1-9):
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Figure 1. Kessler's 1985 Coverage Map
for his Alaskan Fish Field Guide.
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Figure 2. Scan of Kessler (1985 )
page 91, mentioned in text.
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| CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE |
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Adult Male Record-Sized
51 inch Total Length
Wolffish, Caught on Long-line
with large (3 inch) J-Hooks
at 18 fathoms, Uyak Bay,
Kodiak Island, 24 July 1989.
Photographs by the Author.
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Lateral Veiw of
Adult Male Wolffish Head
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Open mouth,
Anterior Body and Head
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Close-up view of
Open Mouth, Held Open
by hand with the
Consumed J-Hook Line
with cured octopus arm
chunk bait.
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View of the Volcanic Landscape surrounding the Uyak & Uganik Bay Areas of Kodiak Island, Alaska,
1989.
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Figure 8. Waters of Uyak Bay,
Just Outside of Larsen Bay,
Kodiak Island, Alaska:
Long-Line Site for the
Bering Wolffish records,
(1989) herein described.
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Figure 9. Coho salmon adults collected Kodiak Island, 1989, with hook and line, using glow-green
plastic squid lures and silver flashers, trolling at 8 knots.
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In the Summer of 1989, the year oil from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill at Prince William Sound was weathered
into the Kodiak Island Fishing District, 600 plus nautical miles away to the Southwest, the author was stationed on a Purse-Seine
Fishing Vessel , the F/V 'Little Yank' at Larsen Bay, Uyak Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska, from May through August
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In July, Captn. M. Tarabochia, Sr., and I went to hunt an adult octopus to use as bait for
a "J-hook 300-fathom long Long-line Set " to occur about 3 days later in Uyak Bay, just outside of Larsen
Bay, Kodiak Island, in ca. 18-20 fathoms of water depth. The set took place near a rocky ridge about
1 Nautical Mile off the Entrance to Larsen Bay (Figure 8 in Table above).
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Same long-line set , Uyak Bay |
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Same long-line set; Uyak Bay |
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Hemilepidotus hemilepidotus. |
Same long-line set, Uyak Bay |
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Same long-line set, Uyak Bay |
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Same long-line set, Uyak Bay |
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In Purse-seine test sets in Uyak & Larsen Bays |
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Pink salmon
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Oncorhynchus gorbushca.
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Uyak, Uganik & Larsen Bays
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Chum (Dog) Salmon
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Oncorhynchus keta.
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Test Seine Sets in Uyak & Larsen Bays
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Sockeye Salmon
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Oncorhynchus nerka
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In the area.
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Crescent Gunnel
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Pholis laeta
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Under Cobbles covered with Sea lettuce (Ulva sp.), Near
Cannery Docks, Exposed at Low Tides
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Crested Sculpin
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Blepsias bilobus
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Under & within Floating Tidal Mats of Debris, algae,
driftwood, etc., Uyak (N=1) & Uganik (N=2) Bays
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Monkey-faced Prickleback
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Cebidichthys violaceus
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1 only; Hook & Line, Cannery Dock, Larsen Bay
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Northern Ronquil
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Ronquilus jordani
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1 only; on Hook & Line with small plastic worm gig: cannery
Dock, Larsen Bay
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Walleye Pollack
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Theragra chalcogramma
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Scores caught with Hook & Line, Cannery Dock, Larsen Bay
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According to the Kessler account then, Uyak Bay, which is on the northwestern side of Kodiak Island,
would be a new distributional record, outside the Bering Sea per se.
The author dissected the stomach contents of each of the 2 wolffish collected on the long-line set
and found them to contain: urchin (Strongylocentrotus), scallops (Pecten or Chlamys sp.), a marine snail, and
small crab fragments, as well as "incidental barnacles" (Author's field notes). Apparently the barnacles were on the
shells of the other prey items. Little has been published on the diet of this species.
The largest specimen measured 51 inches total length and according to records from the Univ. of Washington
and an extensive Alaskan collection this constitutes a size record for the species. Kessler (1985) lists the maximum
size as: "Length to 44 inches (112 cm)" (page 91).
The unusual dental vouchers (dissected crushing molar tooth, and jaw with large canines), and some
food items were preserved and deposited at the James R. Slater Museum, University of Puget Sound , Tacoma , WA, ca. 1990.
Literature Cited
Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann. 1983. A Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes of
North America from the Gulf of Alaska to Baja California. Peterson Series, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
336 p.
Kessler, D. W. 1985. Alaska's Saltwater Fishes and Other Sea Life: A Field Guide. Anchorage, AK:
Alaska Northwest Publishing Company. 358 p.
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