Escape performance was examined in three similarly sized teleosts caught in Arctic waters: the Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, the Greenland cod, Gadus ogac, and the short-horned sculpin, Myoxocephalus scorpius. Escape responses were elicited by a mechanical stimulus and followed by recordings of velocity and acceleration over the first 320ms. A significant difference in escape performance was confirmed between the three species. G. morhua always exhibited the fastest and M. scorpius the slowest responses. Maximal measures of acceleration and velocity revealed no difference between G. morhua (12.6ms–2 and 1.27ms–1) and G. ogac (11.9ms–2 and 1.16ms–1) but an overall reduced performance in M. scorpius (6.5ms–2 and 0.71ms–1). The escape performance of the gadid and cottid species generally correlate well with their behavioural lifestyle, but it is surprisingly similar to Antarctic notothenioid fishes at lower temperatures.