The burbot has a unique ecology as the only member of the order of
cod-like fishes found in freshwater. It is the second most widely
distributed freshwater fish in the Northern Hemisphere, variously
threatened, extinct or thriving across different parts of this wide
paleoarctic range. Burbot were driven to extinction from Britain most
probably in the 1970s, the last recorded specimen caught in 1969 in
Cambridgeshire. Particularly over the past decade, a large body of work
has addressed potential reintroduction of the burbot to Britain. The
burbot's diverse habitat and other needs throughout its life stages also
mean that the species is a flagship for a diversity of other wildlife of
restored river systems, and of the human benefits that these ecosystems
can provide. Burbot is an excellent source for all those involved in
freshwater fish and fisheries management, conservation and exploitation.