Whitefish

Any of several silvery food fishes (family Salmonidae, or Coregonidae), inhabiting cold northern lakes of Europe, Asia, and North America.

Whitefish weigh about 2–5 lbs (1–2 kg); they eat insect larvae and other small animals. The Lake Superior whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis), also called whiting or shad, is the largest of the lake whitefishes. Ciscoes, or lake herring (Coregonus artedi), are herringlike food and sport fishes. The best sport fishes of the family are the Rocky Mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) and other round whitefishes.

Whitefish (white fish, demersal fish) is a fisheries term referring to several species of oceanic deep water finfish, particularly cod (Gadus morhua), whiting (Merluccius bilinearis), and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), but also hake (Urophycis), pollock (Pollachius), or others.

Unlike oily fish, white fish contain oils only in their liver, rather than in the gut and can therefore be gutted as soon as they are caught, on board the ship. white fish has dry and white flesh

White fish are divided into round fish which live near the sea bed (cod, coley) and flatfish such as plaice which live on the sea bed.

Whitefish is sometimes eaten straight but often used reconstituted for fishsticks, gefilte fish, lutefisk, surimi (imitation crabmeat), etc.

It is most widely known as the fish in fish and chips.