The blue ling is mostly 80-130 centimetres long.  It is shorter and smaller than leng, its beard is shorter, and the eyes are larger.  It lives at depths of 200-1500 metres and is mostly caught in the warm seas.  It spawns in the spring at depths of 600-1000 metres south of the Icelandic shelf, and to the west of the Faroe Islands and Scotland.  The blue ling is considered better food fish than ling.  The estimated  West European catch of blue ling is 2000-4000 tonnes annually.