Description: The European hake is a traditionally important, highly appreciated commercial fish, particularly in Western Europe, where it is valued for the quality of its white flesh. It is an elongated, slightly compressed fish, with well differentiated caudal fin and caudal peduncle. Usually grey above, lighter on the sides, and white on the ventral surface. The inside of the mouth and gill cavity are black.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atlantic, from Norway and Iceland to Mauritania; also in the Mediterranean Sea and along the southern coast of the Black Sea. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length 140 cm (total length); common length 45.0 cm (TL); maximum published weight 15.0 kg.
Age: Maximum reported age: 20 years.
Weight length rel.: Portugal, south coast (Borges et al. 2003): a=0.00430, b=3.129, r2=0.99 (n=234).
Portugal, south coast (Santos et al. 2002): a=0.0032, b=3.249, r2=0.966 (n=306).
Portugal, west coast (Mendes et al. 2004): a=0.0040, b=3.161, r2=0.968 (n=1108).
Spain, south-west coast (Torres et al. 2012): a=0.0048, b=3.124, r2= (n=2065).
Growth type: Positive allometric (Santos et al. 2002; Mendes et al. 2004; Torres et al. 2012).
von Bertallanfy growth parameters:
Reproduction: The spawning period is long and varies according to the population. Batch spawners; four of five spawnings occur without an ovary resting period; approximately 20% of the oocytes are released at each time. Fecundity is estimated at between 2 and 7 million oocytes per female.
Maturity: Atlantic: females 57 cm (7 years); males 40 cm (5 years). Mediterranean: females 36 - 40 cm; males 26 - 27 cm.
Behavioural ecology: Adults live close to the bottom during day-time, but move off-bottom at night.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 30 - 1075 m; usually 50 - 370 m.
Habitat: A demersal and benthopelagic species. Lives on muddy or mud-sand grounds on the continental shelf and slope.
Feeding habits: 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).
Trophic level: FishBase: 4.4
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Highly valued and traditionally important commercial species in western Europe, including in Portugal. Less common in Madeira as it is primarily a continental shelf species.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Least concern.
Nutritional information & food safety:
Proximate composition per 100 g:
energy value 120.07 kcal (6.0% DRV)
protein 20.40 g (40.8% DRV)
fat 0.41-1.50 g (0.6-2.1% DRV)
of which saturates 0.14 g (0.7% DRV)
omega-3 (EPA+DHA): 0.219 g (recommended: 0.250 - 2.0 g daily)
REFERENCES
Borges T.C., Olim S., Erzini K. (2003). Weight–length relationships for fish species discarded in commercial fisheries of the Algarve (southern Portugal). Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 19(6): 394-396.
Hureau J.-C., ed. (1984-1985). Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO. Accessed through: Marine Species Identification Portal. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://species-identification.org (2014).
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Lloris D., Matallanas J., Oliver P. (2005). Hakes of the World (Family Merlucciidae). An annotated and illustrated cataloge of hake species known to date. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes No. 2. FAO, Rome, 57 pp.
Mendes B., Fonseca P., Campos A. (2004). Weight–length relationships for 46 fish species of the Portuguese west coast. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 20(5): 355-361.
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
Santos M.N., Gaspar M.B., Vasconcelos P., Monteiro C.C. (2002). Weight–length relationships for 50 selected fish species of the Algarve coast (southern Portugal). Fisheries Research, 59(1): 289-295.
Torres M.A., Ramos F., Sobrino I. (2012). Length–weight relationships of 76 fish species from the Gulf of Cadiz (SW Spain). Fisheries Research, 127: 171-175.
