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Whiting

This delicate, tasty fish does not always get the attention it deserves.

In Parisian slang, hairdressers used to be known as ‘whiting’ because they powdered their customers’ hair, just like a fish is floured before frying.

Crédit photo : Doris

Identity card

Like cod, monkfish or hake, the whiting (merlangius merlangus) belongs to the gadidae family. It prefers the cold waters of the English Channel, the Atlantic and the North Sea. It grows rapidly and easily attains a length of 70 cm and a weight of one kilogram in these waters. In the Black Sea or the Mediterranean, it does not exceed 30 cm. It usually lives for ten years.The whiting has a long body, the colour of which varies depending on its habitat (beige to blue-green). It has a black spot at the base of its fins, a characteristic of the species. It has three dorsal fins with flexible spokes, two ventral fins and two anal fins. It is an excellent hunter that feeds on shrimp and crustaceans when young, then herring and sand eels when adult.

The whiting reaches sexual maturity after two years. This demersal fish is very active at dawn and dusk. It lives in shoals at depths of up to 200 metres on silty or rocky sea floors. During the spawning season in spring, the females lay up to a million eggs.
There are several types of whiting: silver whiting with a beige, shiny skin, blue whiting that is rarely fished in France (used to make fish meal and oil), young cod, bib, black whiting or coley, Black sea whiting (with a barbel), etc.

Production and consumption

Previously limited to the poor as it was cheap, whiting is not much appreciated by consumers today. Although roughly 8,918 tons of whiting were sold at fish markets (mainly at Boulogne-sur-Mer) in 2008, (compared with 17,980 tons in 2002, 16,610 tons in 2003 and 11,405 tons in 2004), French domestic consumption does not exceed 4,781 tons, lagging far behind salmon, cod and hake.

Whiting is nonetheless a lean fish (70 calories for 100 grams), rich in iodine and very digestible, which is why it is very suitable for children and the elderly. As its meat crumbles easily, the cooking time needs to be closely monitored. (Source: FranceAgrimer, Semmaris)

At Rungis Market

Following a 1.1% rise last year, 2009 sales should be slightly higher than in 2008, with 1,089.7 tons sold up to end November.
As Mr Richard Galais, Commercial Manager at PRM, says: “90% of the whiting sold is filleted. We sell 1.5 tons of whiting a week, particularly between October and February, plus some in summer, to our customers, most of whom are fishmongers. This is a market that remains quite stable.”

Matthieu Noli

 

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