European hake | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Gadiformes |
Family: | Merlucciidae |
Genus: | Merluccius |
Species: | M. merluccius |
Binomial name | |
Merluccius merluccius (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
Synonyms | |
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Merluccius merluccius, the European hake, is a merluccid hake of the genus Merluccius . Other vernacular names include Cornish salmon and herring hake. It is a predatory species, which was often netted alongside one of its favoured prey, the Atlantic herring, hence the latter common name. It is found in the eastern Atlantic from Norway and Iceland south to Mauritania and into the Mediterranean Sea. It is an important species in European fisheries and is heavily exploited, with some populations being fished unsustainably.
Merluccius merluccius is a slim-bodied fish with a large head and large jaws in which are set a number of large curved teeth, [2] the lower jaw having two rows of teeth and the upper jaw one row. [3] The inside of the mouth and the branchial cavity are black. [4] The body is at its widest just behind its head. [5] It has two dorsal fins, the first triangular, high with a short base, while the second is long, nearly the same length as the anal fin, and both the second dorsal fin and the anal fin have a slightly convex profile. [2] The first dorsal fin has a single spine and 7 to 10 fin rays; the second dorsal fin has 36 to 40 fin rays and the anal fin has 36 to 40 fin rays. The tips of the pectoral fins extend to the level of the origin of the anal fin in young fish that are less than 20 cm (7.9 in) in standard length but does not do so in adults. [6] The caudal fin is well developed and has a truncate margin. The lateral line is straight and darker than the background colour. It is blue-grey on the back, silvery on the flanks and whitish on the underside. They grow to 180 cm (71 in) but this is rare and a more common larger size is 100 cm (39 in). [2]
Merluccius merluccius is found in the eastern Atlantic from Norway and Iceland, south along the European coast to the Straits of Gibraltar and south along the west coast of Africa to Mauritania. It also occurs in the Mediterranean Sea. [1] It extends into the Black Sea but it is restricted to the southern shorelines of this sea. [5] In the Baltic Sea it does not normally extend further east than the Kattegat but it has been recorded as far east as Lithuania. [7]
The European hake is normally found at depths of between 70 m (230 ft) and 370 m (1,210 ft), although it may also occur within a wider range of depths, being found from inshore waters as shallow as 30 m (98 ft) down to 1,000 m (3,300 ft). During the day it stays close to the bottom and at night it becomes more active and uses more of the water column. This species has a very long spawning period, which differs between populations, spawning occurring latest in the more northerly populations. In the Mediterranean spawning lasts from December to June, February–May in the Bay of Biscay, April–July off western Iceland and May–August off western Scotland. [1] In the Adriatic Sea spawning occurs throughout the year but peaks in summer and winter. The female hake are partial spawner, laying eggs four or five times during a spawning season with rests in between. [5] Spawning occurs between 100 and 300 m depth in the Mediterranean and in the Celtic Sea at depths no greater than 150 m (490 ft) . [1] In the Adriatic the recruitment of young hake into the breeding stock has two peaks, the first peak occurring in the spring and the second in the autumn. [5] Juveniles live on muddy bottoms up to the age of three years, when they move towards the coast. Most females attain sexual maturity during their seventh year at around 57 cm (22 in) in length, whilst for males this occurs in their fifth year and on attaining a length of 40 cm (16 in) in the Atlantic, whereas in the Mediterranean, males mature at 26–27 cm (10–11 in) and females at 36–40 cm (14–16 in). The females are faster growing than the males and each female has a fecundity reported as 2 to 7 million eggs. [6] They live to a maximum age of 20 years. [1]
The principal spawning grounds are in the southern portion of its range in the canyons and rocky bottoms of the Bay of Biscay in the shelf break area. The maximum production of eggs occurs at depths of approximately 200 m (660 ft). The larvae are either deposited in the nursery areas of the Bay of Biscay or swept further out to sea, depending on the direction of the current. The more larvae deposited in the nursery areas is highly correlated with successful recruitment of adult hake into the population. After two months, the eggs hatch and the juvenile hake demonstrate a diel vertical migration, staying near the muddy bottoms during daylight hours and ascending to feed at shallower depths during the night. The adults also prefer to rest near the bottom during the day but they do not ascend to as near the surface as the juveniles [1] Individual hake may be seen foraging alone near the seabed but higher in the water column they tend to feed in shoals. [3]
Small European hake up to 16 cm (6.3 in) long, those less than a year old, feed mostly on crustaceans such as krill, mysids and amphipods. It is at this stage of their lives that they prefer deeper water. As they grow and become more piscivorous they migrate to shallower areas where they start to feed on fish. In the Adriatic their main prey are pilchard (Sardina pilchardus), European sprat (Sprattus sprattus) and European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), as well as Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus), Horse mackerel Trachurus spp. and they can also be cannibalistic. Cephalopods were also recorded in the stomachs of sampled hakes from the Adriatic. [5] In the north east Atlantic this species has been recorded feeding on blue whiting, horse mackerel and clupeids and it is regarded as an apex predator in this area. [8] In the central Mediterranean Sea the young hake, between 5 cm (2.0 in) and 10.9 cm (4.3 in) in total length, fed predominantly on the euphasiid Nictiphanes couchi and the mysid Lophogaster typicus with decapods as secondary prey. At total lengths between 11 cm (4.3 in) and 15.9 cm (6.3 in) had a more varied diet with an increased utilisation of euphausiids but they also consumed an increased number of decapods, these were from a wide variety of species, such as Chlorotocus crassicornis , Alpheus glaber , Plesionika heterocarpus , Pasiphaea sivado , and Solenocera membranacea with fish and mysids being less important. Small cephalopods especially Sepiolidae, Sepietta oweniana and Alloteuthis media were also taken. [9]
As the hake grows larger fish become more important in the diet, hake with total lengths of between 16 cm (6.3 in) and 35.9 cm (14.1 in) have diets dominated by clupeids, especially pilchards and anchovies. Once a length of 36 cm (14 in) was attained the fish had shifted to an entirely piscivorous diet and the favoured prey changed to centracanthids such as Spicara flexuosa and Centracanthus cirrus with the importance of clupeids declining at the same time. Decapods were also taken, especially Processa spp. and Solenocera membranacea while mysids, euphausiids and cephalopods were not a feature of the diets of these larger fish. The rate of cannibalism recorded increased with increasing size with the larger fish having a diet consisting of up to 71% smaller conspecifics. [9] In the Atlantic off the Portuguese coasts a study found that hake were opportunistic feeders and preferred the demersal fish species that were most abundant at any given time with the main prey blue whiting, Atlantic mackerel, chub mackerel, European anchovy and pilchard. [10] Its habit of feeding on clupeids led to the vernacular name "herring hake", [11] this may lead to hake being netted along with the herring. This is consistent with a 19th-century account: "It is a very voracious fish, devouring great numbers of herrings and pilchards; hence it is frequently called the Herring Hake." [12]
Merluccius merluccius parasites have been well studied and as many as nineteen species of metazoan parasites have been identified on hake in a single study from the Mediterranean. These included five species of ectoparasite, one species of Monogenea and four species of Copepoda and fourteen species of endoparasite made up of Platyhelminthes: four digeneans, two cestodes and six nematodes: as well as two acanthocephalans. [13]
Merluccius merluccius is one of the most important demersal quarry species for fisheries over the western European continental shelf and this means that it is extensively studied. [1] This species is vulnerable to overfishing because it grows slowly and the females attain sexual maturity at a relatively old age. [14] However, there is still some uncertainty around both its population structure and the state of the stocks. More than 160,000 tonnes were landed in 1955 compared to approximately 60,000 tonnes (66,000 short tons) tonnes in 2000 although this increased to nearly 100,000 tonnes (110,000 short tons) tonnes in 2009 and 2010. [1] Around 12,900 tonnes (14,200 short tons) were landed during 2011 at United Kingdom ports, and this catch was valued £22.5 million, however only 200 tonnes of hake were consumed in the UK that year, so most of this catch was exported. [14] There are two main stocks of European Hake in the Atlantic, a northern and a southern one. The northern stock is thought to be being exploited within its safe biological limits and to have an increasing population, although in 2011 the total allowable catch was exceeded by up to 30%. The southern and Mediterranean populations are thought to be being overexploited and the fisheries to be outside sustainable limits. [14] For example, in the Gulf of Lions hake constituted an important fraction of commercial landings but the stock has been overexploited so that only juveniles and young adults occur on the continental shelf following decades of intensive bottom trawling. [15] The main fishing areas where hake at caught are to the north and west of Scotland, the west and south of Ireland, the Bay of Biscay, the Portuguese coast and the western coast North Africa. [16]
The northern European hake stock has recovered since the introduction of measures in 2001. [14] Fisheries are regulated through restrictions on fishing effort, such as selectivity, fishing closures and minimum landing size. Additionally, individual states lay down their own regulations on matters such as minimum landing size, examples being Turkey where the minimum landing size is 25 cm (9.8 in) or Morocco where it is 20 cm (7.9 in), this is also the European Union's minimum landing size. M. merluccius has been assessed on some Regional red Lists and the population in the Mediterranean is classed a Vulnerable, in the Baltic as Near Threatened and that in the Eastern Central Atlantic as Least Concern. Overall the Northeast Atlantic stock appears to be expanding its range, and of the two distinct stocks, northern and southern, the northern stock has shown an increase in stock biomass, which over the five years to 2015 increased by a factor of five. On the other hand, the southern stock is still overfished, albeit slightly, and the stock biomass in the 10 years to 2015 increased. Therefore, the IUCN class Merluccius merluccius as Least Concern. [1]
European hake is mainly sold in its fresh form, but it may also be frozen, dried, salted and canned. [16] The flesh has a mild flavour, more subtle than that of cod with a white flaky texture. The raw flesh is quite soft but when it has been cooked the texture changes to firm and meaty. In France this popular species is marketed as "colin" and occasionally as "saumon blanc", i.e. "white salmon". It is also a popular food fish in Iberia where it is grilled, pan-fried and baked. The meat can be matched with strong flavours and hake is often cooked with tomatoes, garlic, chorizo and paprika. [17]
A medium-sized hake, known in Spanish as pescadilla, is often presented with its mouth biting its tail receiving the name of pescadilla de rosca ("torus hake"). [18] La pescadilla que se muerde la cola, "the hake that bites its tail", is a proverbial Spanish expression for circular reasoning and vicious circles. [19]
Hake is the common name for fish in the Merlucciidae family of the northern and southern oceans and the Phycidae family of the northern oceans. Hake is a commercially important fish in the same taxonomic order, Gadiformes, as cod and haddock.
The Atlantic mackerel, also known as Boston mackerel, Norwegian mackerel, Scottish mackerel or just mackerel, is a species of mackerel found in the temperate waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and the northern Atlantic Ocean, where it is extremely common and occurs in huge shoals in the epipelagic zone down to about 200 m (660 ft). It spends the warmer months close to shore and near the ocean surface, appearing along the coast in spring and departing with the arrival of colder weather in the fall and winter months. During the fall and winter, it migrates out into deeper and more southern water, seeking warmer temperatures.
The Zeidae are a family of large, showy, deep-bodied zeiform marine fish—the "true dories". Found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, the family contains just six species in two genera. All species are important and highly regarded food fish supporting commercial fisheries, and some—such as the John Dory —are enjoyed in large public aquaria. These fish are caught primarily by deep-sea trawling.
The Atlantic horse mackerel, also known as the European horse mackerel or common scad, is a species of jack mackerel in the family Carangidae, which includes the jacks, pompanos and trevallies. It is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean off Europe and Africa and into the south-eastern Indian Ocean. It is an important species in commercial fisheries and is listed as a Vulnerable species on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The crevalle jack, also known as the common jack, black-tailed trevally, couvalli jack, black cavalli, jack crevale, or yellow cavalli is a common species of large marine fish classified within the jack family, Carangidae. The crevalle jack is distributed across the tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic Ocean, ranging from Nova Scotia, Canada to Uruguay in the western Atlantic and Portugal to Angola in the eastern Atlantic, including the Mediterranean Sea. It is distinguishable from similar species by its deep body, fin colouration and a host of more detailed anatomical features, including fin ray and lateral line scale counts. It is one of the largest fish in the genus Caranx, growing to a maximum known length of 124 cm and a weight of 32 kg, although is rare at lengths greater than 60 cm. The crevalle jack inhabits both inshore and offshore waters to depths of around 350 m, predominantly over reefs, bays, lagoons and occasionally estuaries. Young fish dispersed north by currents in the eastern Atlantic are known to migrate back to more tropical waters before the onset of winter; however, if the fish fail to migrate, mass mortalities occur as the temperature falls below the species' tolerance.
The common ling, also known as the white ling or simply the ling, is a large member of the family Lotidae, a group of cod-like fishes. It resembles the related rocklings, but it is much larger and has a single barbel. This species is unrelated to the pink ling, Genypterus blacodes, from the Southern Hemisphere. The common ling is found in the northern Atlantic, mainly off Europe, and into the Mediterranean Basin. It is an important quarry species for fisheries, especially in the northeastern Atlantic, although some doubts exist as to the sustainability of the fisheries. As an edible species, it is eaten fresh, frozen, or dried, but also preserved in lye, while the roe is a delicacy in Spain.
Thyrsites atun, known as the snoek in South Africa and as the barracouta in Australasia, is a long, thin species of snake mackerel found in the seas of the Southern Hemisphere, and a popular food fish in South Africa, particularly along the west and southwest coast. Despite its Australasian name, it is not closely related to the barracuda.
The longfin inshore squid is a species of squid of the family Loliginidae.
The North Pacific hake, Pacific hake, Pacific whiting, or jack salmon is a ray-finned fish in the genus Merluccius, found in the northeast Pacific Ocean from northern Vancouver Island to the northern part of the Gulf of California. It is a silver-gray fish with black speckling, growing to a length of 90 cm (3 ft). It is a migratory offshore fish and undergoes a daily vertical migration from the surface to the seabed at depths down to about 1,000 m (3,300 ft). It is the object of an important commercial fishery off the West Coast of the United States, and annual quotas are used to prevent overfishing.
Mullus barbatus is a species of goatfish found in the Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Marmara, the Black Sea and the eastern North Atlantic Ocean, where its range extends from Scandinavia to Senegal. They are fished, mostly by trawling, with the flesh being well regarded. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed their conservation status as being of "least concern".
The little tunny, also known as the false albacore, little tuna, bonita, or erroneously as the blue bonito, is a species of tuna in the family Scombridae. It can be found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean and Black seas; in the western Atlantic, it ranges from Brazil to the New England states. The little tunny is a pelagic fish that can be found regularly in both offshore and inshore waters, and it is classified as a highly migratory species. The little tunny is best identified by the "worm-like" markings on its back and the dark spots appearing between its pectoral and ventral fins.
The greater amberjack, also known as the allied kingfish, great amberfish, greater yellowtail, jenny lind, Sea donkey, purplish amberjack, reef donkey, rock salmon, sailors choice, yellowtail, and yellow trevally, is a species of predatory ray-finned fish in the family Carangidae, the jacks and pompanos. It is found in temperate, subtropical, and tropical seas around the world. It is a popular quarry species for recreational fisheries and is important in commercial fisheries. It is the largest species in the family Carangidae.
The false scad, also known as the spotfin scad, ten-finned horse mackerel and yellow horse mackerel, is a species of medium-sized marine fish classified in the jack family Carangidae. The false scad is distributed throughout the tropical and temperate waters of the eastern Atlantic Ocean from Namibia in the south to Spain and throughout most of the Mediterranean in the north. The species has an atypical body form compared to other species of Caranx, and can be distinguished from these on its elongate 'scad-like' body shape alone. Distinguishing the species from members of Decapterus and Trachurus is more difficult, requiring detailed anatomical analysis. The false scad is known to grow to a length of 60 cm and a weight of 1 kg. The species lives both pelagically and demersally in continental shelf waters, ranging from depths of 15 to 200 m. It is a predatory fish, taking small fishes, crustaceans including euphausiids and shrimps, and cephalopods as its main prey, with significant dietary shifts as it ages. The false scad reaches sexual maturity at 2 years of age, with spawning occurring between April and July in shallow inshore waters, where the juveniles remain. The species is of major importance to fisheries throughout its range, but particularly from Morocco to Senegal, with annual catches ranging from 500 to 19000 t. The species is caught using trawls, seine nets and gill nets and sold fresh, frozen or salted.
The European pilchard is a species of ray-finned fish in the monotypic genus Sardina. The young of the species are among the many fish that are sometimes called sardines. This common species is found in the northeast Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea at depths of 10–100 m (33–328 ft). It reaches up to 27.5 cm (10.8 in) in length and mostly feeds on planktonic crustaceans. This schooling species is a batch spawner where each female lays 50,000–60,000 eggs.
Merluccius capensis is a ray-finned fish in the genus Merluccius, found in the south-eastern Atlantic Ocean, along the coast of South Africa. It is a long, lean fish with a large head, similar in appearance to the European hake and the deep-water Cape hake. By day, it lives close to the bottom on the continental shelf and upper slope at depths not usually exceeding 400 m (1,300 ft); it makes a large, daily vertical migration rising at night to feed in the nectonic zone, and it also migrates southwards in spring and northwards in autumn. It is an important commercial fish species in southern Africa.
The Cape horse mackerel is a mackerel-like species in the family Carangidae. It is a pelagic species of the south eastern Atlantic Ocean which is a target of fisheries, mainly as bycatch.
Lophius budegassa, the blackbellied angler or blackbellied monkfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Lophiidae, the goosefishes, monkfishes and anglers. This species is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
Merluccius australis, the southern hake, is a species of fish from the family Merlucciidae, the true hakes. It is found in the southern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans with two disjunct populations, one around southern South America and the other in the waters around New Zealand.
Merluccius polli, the Benguela hake, is a species of fish from the family Merlucciidae, the true hakes. It is found in the tropical waters of the eastern Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa.
Merluccius senegalensis, the Senegalese hake, is a species of fish from the family Merlucciidae, the true hakes. It is found in the sub tropical waters of the eastern Atlantic Ocean off the north western coast of Africa.
La pescadilla se fríe en forma de rosca, de modo que la cola esté cogida por los dientes del pez.