The burbot, often affectionately called the “poor man’s lobster” or the “eelpout,” is a freshwater fish native to North America and Eurasia. This species has a unique appearance and a set of intriguing behaviors that set it apart from other fish. The burbot resembles an eel with its elongated body, mottled brown or olive-green skin, and distinctive single chin barbel.
What truly makes the burbot unique is its distinctive lifestyle and habitat preferences. For example, the burbot is the only cod species in the family Gadidae that lives entirely in freshwater. Like the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), most cod are sea-faring species except for the burbot. Burbots are nocturnal hunters that make their homes in cold, clean rivers and lakes. Their diet includes fish, insects, and small crustaceans. They serve as essential predators in their ecosystems, and like many other large predatory species, such as the largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), often catch them as sportfish.
Where Do Burbots Live?
With a native range spanning the colder latitudes of North America and Eurasia, the burbot could be considered widespread. Its specific habitat preference includes the cold, deep (minimum 270 feet or 82 meters) waters of large rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. This restriction means that burbots are less common than other predatory sportfish like northern pike (Esox lucius) and bass (Micropterus spp.) that can occupy shallower waters.
How Do Burbots Reproduce?
The spawning season for burbot begins during the winter and may last into the spring. When the season is right, burbots may migrate into shallow, low-velocity rivers to spawn, or they may remain in a lake or reservoir, spawning in these water bodies’ shallow (10 ft or 3 m) gravel beds.
Characteristic of sea-faring cods, the female burbot can produce millions of eggs in a single spawning event. This reproductive strategy aims to produce as many young as possible because other organisms eat most of them before they reach maturity, which occurs at around three years of age. Once the eggs are broadcast over a lake or river bed, the adults return to their hunting grounds and leave the eggs to hatch on their own. After 30 days, larval burbots emerge from their eggs and begin a long journey to adulthood.
How Do I Fish for Burbot?
This species’ preference for deep water means finding a suitable angling location is more complex than other popular sportsfish. Usually, anglers must seek out burbot by boat, or when lakes and reservoirs freeze over, they can attempt to fish for burbot through the ice.
The burbot is native to the northern United States and Canada, making them an excellent species to fish during the typical spring, summer, and fall seasons when lakes and rivers are not frozen. Luckily, when lakes, rivers, and reservoirs freeze over, anglers can expect to catch a hearty burbot when ice fishing. This activity involves traversing frozen waters, searching for a suitable location to drill a hole in the ice, and placing a line. Anglers often use minnows or cut bait to get a burbot to bite. Finally, burbots are most active at night; therefore, anglers should search for them after dark.
Once caught, the burbot can be fileted and eaten like any other large fish once caught. Their flesh is white and flakey, like their well-known sea-faring siblings.
Are Burbots Related to Eels?
In short, the burbot is more closely related to species of cod (order Gadiformes) rather than eels (order Anguilliformes), although both groups of fish belong to the class Actinopterygii, making them more closely related to each other than either group is to say, sharks or humans.
With their elongated bodies and fin structure, the burbot bears a superficial resemblance to eels, another group of fish. While they may appear like each other, the two groups of fish are very different. Their lone barbel and separate caudal/dorsal fins help distinguish the burbot from eels, which do not have barbels and possess a single, entire fin. The eel’s life cycle is also unique compared to the burbot’s, with most species of eel migrating to the ocean to spawn, whereas burbots only spawn in freshwater.
