The only freshwater member of the cod family (Lota lota), also called ling or lawyer. A cold-water, bottom-dwelling fish with a near-circumpolar range; in North America it runs across most of Canada, from Alaska and the Yukon east to New Brunswick, and south into the northern U.S. Prized eating, but slow-growing and vulnerable on the winter spawn — so many waters carry conservation quotas or catch-and-release rules.