Merluccius merluccius, European hake : fisheries

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Merluccius merluccius (Linnaeus, 1758)

European hake
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Merluccius merluccius   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Merluccius merluccius (European hake)
Merluccius merluccius
Picture by Svensen, R.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Gadiformes (Cods) > Merlucciidae (Merluccid hakes)
Etymology: Merluccius: Latin, mar, maris = the sea + Latin, lucius = pike (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; depth range 18 - 1075 m (Ref. 58452), usually 70 - 400 m (Ref. 35388). Temperate; 76°N - 18°N, 30°W - 42°E (Ref. 58452)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Atlantic: Norway and Iceland, southward to Mauritania. Also in the Mediterranean Sea and along the southern coast of the Black Sea.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 42.3, range 20 - 70 cm
Max length : 140 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1371); common length : 45.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1371); max. published weight: 15.0 kg (Ref. 1371); max. reported age: 20 years (Ref. 35388)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 43-51; Anal soft rays: 36 - 40. Inside of mouth and branchial cavity black. Second dorsal and anal fins notched. First vertebra and neural spine attached to skull. Vertebrae 50-52.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Minimum depth from Ref. 128002. Found usually between 70 and 370 m depth. Adults live close to the bottom during day-time, but move off-bottom at night. Adults feed mainly on fish (small hakes, anchovies, pilchard, herrings, cod fishes, sardines and gadoid species) and squids. The young feed on crustaceans (especially euphausiids and amphipods). Are batch spawners (Ref. 51846). Almost entirely marketed fresh, whole or filleted, to specialized restaurants or retail markets (Ref. 58452). Utilized fresh, dried or salted and frozen; can be steamed, fried, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988). Stocks seem to be over-fished (Ref. 35388).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Continuous recruitment of oocytes connotes indeterminate fecundity for this species (Ref. 79799).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Cohen, D.M., T. Inada, T. Iwamoto and N. Scialabba, 1990. FAO species catalogue. Vol. 10. Gadiform fishes of the world (Order Gadiformes). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cods, hakes, grenadiers and other gadiform fishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(10). Rome: FAO. 442 p. (Ref. 1371)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 01 October 2015

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial
FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 6.9 - 15.4, mean 10.2 °C (based on 672 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00479 (0.00431 - 0.00531), b=3.12 (3.09 - 3.15), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.4   ±0.0 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 9.0 (7.9 - 10.1) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 95 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.07-0.3; tmax=20; Fecundity=7 million).
Prior r = 0.53, 95% CL = 0.35 - 0.80, Based on 16 stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High vulnerability (65 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate vulnerability (39 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   High.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 8.42 [4.50, 24.86] mg/100g; Iron = 0.22 [0.08, 0.52] mg/100g; Protein = 17.7 [16.7, 18.7] %; Omega3 = 0.248 [0.172, 0.355] g/100g; Selenium = 34.6 [19.1, 64.2] μg/100g; VitaminA = 11.8 [3.4, 39.2] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.246 [0.175, 0.341] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.