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Lingcod like to live in the same places as rockfish. Their population has gone way down due to overfishing, and now it’s illegal to fish for them in parts of British Columbia. The females lay eggs in big clumps, called egg masses, that look like styrofoam. It's easy to find out the age of young female lingcod by the size of their egg masses.
Grapefruit-sized egg masses mean that the female is probably 3 years old. A 4 year old female lays an egg mass about the size of a cantaloupe, and a female that’s 5 years or older can lay an egg mass that’s the size of a watermelon.
Researchers use the age of the females to figure out if the lingcod are still being fished in places where they’re supposed to be protected.
The Aquarium’s dive team plans to ask the volunteers who have been successful at counting lingcod egg masses to help out with the upcoming rockfish surveys. Contact the dive team at rockfish@vanaqua.org to sign up!
To take part in the rockfish survey, you must be able to identify local rockfish species. See how you fare in our rockfish identification game!
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