- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Subphylum: Vertebrata
- Superclass: Gnathostomata
- Class: Actinopterygii
- Order: Gadiformes
- Family: Gadidae
- Scientific name: Raniceps raninus
- Norwegian: paddetorsk
Characteristics:
The color is uniformly dark brown, almost black in some cases. The head is a bit flattened. It has a single dorsal fin, increasing in height as it runs all they back to the tail fin. A similar shaped anal fin and the slender body reminds a bit of a catfish. It rarely exceeds a length of 30 cm.
Habitat:
I apologize for the image quality. It is difficult to get decent pictures of the tadpole fish, as it usually hides in tight crevices. You can see the tale of a poor-cod that immediately started to stir up gravel to hide them both. After a few seconds the crevice was filled with dust.
Distribution:
The tadpole fish is found in the North-East Atlantic Ocean, from Trøndelag in Norway to the Bay of Biscay.