A fish belonging to one of three species of Molva (family Lotidae), resembling cod. It inhabits the North Atlantic. Common ling (M. molva) has a slender body up to 2 m long. Blue ling (M. dypterygia) is smaller. Both species are commercially important. Spanish ling (M. macrophthalma), up to 1.2 m long, also inhabits the Mediterranean and Black Seas, but offshore it occurs in deep trenches; it is of little commercial value.