---
title: "Lingcod"
description: "Ophiodon elongatus — Fish. The lingcod or ling cod (Ophiodon elongatus) is a fish of the greenling family Hexagrammidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/lingcod
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Lingcod

> Ophiodon elongatus — Fish. The lingcod or ling cod (Ophiodon elongatus) is a fish of the greenling family Hexagrammidae.

- Scientific name: *Ophiodon elongatus*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 3946
- Wikidata: [Q81964](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q81964)
- iNaturalist taxon: [52539](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/52539)

## Names

- en: Lingcod
- de: Lengdorsch
- es: Molva
- pl: Ofiodon

## Countries with the most observations

CA (1962), US (1653), MX (18)

## Summary

The lingcod or ling cod (Ophiodon elongatus) is a fish of the greenling family Hexagrammidae. Despite its name, the lingcod is neither a cod nor a ling. It is also known as the buffalo cod, cultus cod, or Buckethead. It is the only extant member of the genus Ophiodon. A slightly larger, extinct species, Ophiodon ozymandias, is known from fossils from the Late Miocene of Southern California.
Ophiodon elongatus is native to the North American west coast from Shumagin Islands in the Gulf of Alaska to Baja California, Mexico. It has been observed up to a size of 152 centimetres (60 in) and a confirmed weight of 39 kilograms…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingcod

## Photo

![Lingcod](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/lingcod/medium.jpg)

Photo: Carolyn Prentice · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/116322573

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/lingcod?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).