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Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Gadiformes (Cods) > Merlucciidae (Merluccid hakes) > Merlucciinae
Etymology: Merluccius: Latin, mar, maris = the sea + Latin, lucius = pike (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; bathydemersal; oceanodromous; depth range 50 - 500 m (Ref. 1371). Deep-water, preferred 13°C (Ref. 107945); 5°S - 46°S, 81°W - 69°E (Ref. 54583)

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

Southeast Pacific: off the coast of Chile from Arica to Chiloé Island.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ?, range 32 - ? cm
Max length : 87.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1371); common length : 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1371)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 45-54; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 36 - 42; Vertebrae: 49 - 53. Caudal fin margin usually concave. Color is silvery on back, silvery whitish on belly. M. gayi gayi and M. gayi peruanus differ by the total number of vertebrae, total number of gill rakers and relative length of head (Ref. 1371).

Occurs from the shallow continental shelf to the upper continental slope (Ref. 1371). Sometimes found off the bottom or in midwater (Ref. 1371). Migrates vertically to midwater at night to feed on fishes, squids and euphausiids (Ref. 27363). Moves to southern coastal areas in summer and migrates to northern deeper waters (200-500 m depth) in winter and spring (Ref. 27363). Spawning occurs at the end of the winter and during the southern spring (Ref. 58452). Marketed fresh and frozen (Ref. 1371) and eaten steamed, fried, boiled and microwaved (Ref. 9988). Also utilized as fishmeal (Ref. 1371).

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

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. 115185)

Data deficient (DD)

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial

FAO(fisheries: production, species profile; publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

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Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01148 (0.00468 - 0.02819), b=3.07 (2.86 - 3.28), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).

Trophic Level (Ref. 69278): 4.3 ±0.6 se; Based on diet studies.

Resilience (Ref. 69278): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.1-0.2; tm=2).

Prior r = 0.62, 2 SD range = 0.33 - 1.17, log(r) = -0.48, SD log(r) = 0.32, Based on: 1 M, 4 K, 1 tgen, records

Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): High vulnerability (61 of 100) .

Price category (Ref. 80766): Low.

Merluccius gayi gayi (Guichenot, 1848)