Atlantic Wolffish Identification Guide
Recognize the Atlantic Wolffish by its blunt fanged head, eel-like body, and dark vertical bars.
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Key identification features
- Elongated, eel-like body tapering to a small rounded tail, with smooth, scaleless-looking skin
- Large, blunt head with thick lips and prominent canine-like teeth visible even when the mouth is closed
- Rounded crushing teeth further back in the jaw and on the roof of the mouth
- Mottled slate-grey to olive-brown coloring with 10-15 darker vertical bars along the body
- One long, low dorsal fin running nearly the full length of the back
- No pelvic fins present
Common look-alikes
- Spotted Wolffish: shows rounded dark spots and blotches scattered over the body rather than distinct vertical bars, and typically grows larger.
- Northern (jelly) wolffish: has a more uniform, less patterned body and softer, gelatinous-feeling skin, with weaker teeth than the Atlantic Wolffish.
- Ocean pout: lacks the strong canine teeth and vertical barring, appearing more uniformly brown overall.
Where you'll see one
Atlantic Wolffish live on rocky and boulder-strewn seabeds in cold North Atlantic waters, from the Gulf of Maine and Canadian Maritimes to Iceland, Scandinavia, and the Barents Sea, typically solitary and tucked into crevices or dens at depths from the shallow subtidal down to several hundred meters.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell an Atlantic Wolffish from a Spotted Wolffish?
Look at the body pattern: Atlantic Wolffish shows dark vertical bars, while Spotted Wolffish shows rounded spots and blotches instead of bars.
What feature quickly separates a wolffish from an eel-shaped look-alike like ocean pout?
Check the mouth for large canine teeth and rounded crushing teeth; ocean pout have much smaller teeth and lack the wolffish's strong, bar-marked pattern.