- French: Brosme, Loquette
- Dutch: Lom
- German: Lumb, Brosme
- Russian: Menyok
- Swedish: Lubb, Brosme
- Norwegian: Brosme
- Danish: Brosme
- Icelandic: Keila
Maximum length 110 cm, market length 45 to 60 cm. The colour may be reddish brown or greenish brown or yellowish grey, shading to cream below. The dorsal, tail and anal fins have white edges, and are joined together at their bases. Note the single dorsal fin and the single barbel.
The torsk, which ranges right across the Atlantic, but only in northerly waters, may be regarded as the odd fish out in the gadoid family. It is of a sedentary and solitary nature, never massing in large shoals like its relations. It grows slowly, since the cold Arctic waters induce a lower rate of metabolism and are anyway poor in food.