In order to protect the remaining fish and help the stock recover, severe restrictions have been placed on cod fishing and landing. In Canada, the catch of cod was shut down entirely. Because of their long-standing importance, however, they remain the oficial fish of Massachusetts, where a large wodden cod hangs in the state house. Cod can grow to great sizes, and have been caught to lengths of six feet and weights of up to 200 punds. While this great size is rare, early fishermen report regular catches of 100 pound cod.
Most cod are between six and twelve pounds as adults, and weigh between four and ten pounds.
Adult cod feed on a wide range of animals, but are most often found to feed on on capelin, herring, sand launce, flounders, young Greenland turbot, crabs, shrimp, brittle stars, combjellies, and a host of other species of fish and shellfish. Juveniles feed mainly on shrimp, amphipods, euphausiids, and fish and shellfish larvae. In fact, a cod will eat almost anything including stones so that it can digest the sea anemones, hydroids, and other organisms growing on them. While larvae and young juveniles may use the upper portion of the ocean, they sink to the bottom at less than a year of age, where they will remain for most of the rest of their lives. A single spawning cod female can produce between two and ten million eggs, the large majority of which will die before reaching adulthood.