Codfish, Morue or Kabeljau

Codfish as said in English, morue for the French or kabeljau for the German, truth is that it's an important part of many cuisines, being Europe the hot spot for traditional cod dishes.
Codfish is an Ocean fish, it enjoys cold water, tends to swim in the Northern hemishphere in cold waters just off Canada, Norway, Russia, Iceland  (Northern Atlantic Ocean) .... The true codfish is a Gadus Morhua specie, found in the Northern Atlantic Ocean. Although many tend to assotiate cod with Norway, you may find good quality Gadus Morhua codfish in several countries like Russia, Iceland and Canada, they are fished in FAO 27 and FAO 21.
You can also find other codfish species like Gaus Macrocephalus, which is a Pacific codfish, it's fished in the FAO 67 region.
Salted Cod fish became famous among shipping vessels, due to it being long lasting, so it was commonly used in the long historical voyages as a food supply for there crew. A salted cod fish can whithstand a great period of time without getting spoiled.

Traditionally the Portuguese are known to be the ones who promoted salted cod among the world, even today the Portuguese are among the main consumers of this fish. The traditional salted cod has been done on the Portuguese coast for many generations.
The salted cod, besides it historical part as a important part in long range vessel onboard cuisine, it  also gives a special flavour and taste to it, making it an important part of the Portuguese cuisine.
In the industry we will find several types of cure for the cod fish, all are salted, the salt has a chemical effect on the fish protecting and preserving it. Besides salted and dried which has a humidity level of less than 47%, we may find semi dry with a 48-50% humidity level, or a wet salted which will have a higher than 51% humidity level. The cod is fished in the Northern Atlantic or Northern Pacific Ocean and frozen in blocks on board the fishing vessels. The frozen cod arrives at the processing plants to be salted and cured, this process I entend to draw up a detailed post, the salted and cured cod is then sold splitted as a whole fish. It may also be processed into smaller pieces like loins, wings, tails, bits, etc.