COLORATION:

Summary: Color variable. Greenish, brownish, or grey dorsally and on upper side (sometimes yellowish or reddish); pale or whitish ventrally. Many brownish to reddish rounded spots on back and sides. Without a dark blotch above base of pectoral fin. Lateral line pale. Fins dark. Peritoneum silvery to silvery gray.
Literature: Jordan and Evermann 1898: Reference to G. morhua (as G. callarias) and G. macrocephalus: Page 2540(key) - " Axil without dusky spot." Reference to G. morhua (as G. callarias): Page 2541 (text) - Greenish or brownish, subject to many variations, sometimes yellowish or reddish; back and sides with numerous rounded brownish spots; lateral line pale; fins dark." Robins and Ray 1986: References to G. morhua: Page 93 (text) - "Body color variable, but with many brownish to reddish spots. Belly whitish. Lateral line whitish. Peritoneum silvery gray." Plate 15 (caption) - "Many spots on body; lateral line whitish." Cohen et al. 1990: References to genus Gadus: Page 22 (key) - "No dark blotch above pectoral fin. Lateral line pale,..." Page 41 (text) - Lateral line pale. References to G. morhua: Page 41(key) - "Body generally spotted." Page 45 (text) - "Colour: variable, brownish to greenish or grey dorsally and on upper side, pale ventrally. Peritoneum silvery."