whiting
Merlangius merlangus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Whiting
Georges Jansoone (JoJan) - · CC BY 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 320 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Merlangius merlangus, commonly known as whiting or merling, is an important food fish in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean and the northern Mediterranean, western Baltic, and Black Sea. In Anglophonic countries outside the whiting's natural range, the name "whiting" has been applied to various other species of fish.
Wikipedia contributors, Merlangius; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:30:22.507899+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Merlangius merlangus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- whiting
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Gadiformes
- Family
- Gadidae
- Genus
- Merlangius
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderGadiformes
- familyGadidae Rafinesque, 1810
- genusMerlangius Garsault, 1764
- speciesMerlangius merlangus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Merlangus vulgaris Fleming, 1828 Fleming, 1828 | synonym |
| Odontogadus merlangus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonym |
| Gadus merlangus euxinus von Nordmann, 1840 von Nordmann, 1840 | synonym |
| Merlangius merlangus euxinus (von Nordmann, 1840) (von Nordmann, 1840) | synonym |
| Merlangus merlangus euxinus (von Nordmann, 1840) (von Nordmann, 1840) | synonym |
| Gadus euxinus von Nordmann, 1840 von Nordmann, 1840 | synonym |
| Gadus merlangus Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Merlangius merlangius (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonym |
| Merlangus merlangus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonym |
| Gadus merlangus merlangus Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Merlangius merlangus merlangus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonym |
| Odontogadus merlangus merlangus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonym |
| Merlangus linnei Malm, 1877 Malm, 1877 | synonym |
| Odontogadus merlangus euxinus (von Nordmann, 1840) (von Nordmann, 1840) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=126438 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3ZV5N. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.