Merlucciidae

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iMerlucciids

Silver hake, Merluccius bilinearis

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Gadiformes
Family:	Merlucciidae

Genera

Lyconodes
Lyconus
Macruronus
Merluccius
Steindachneria
See text for species.

Merlucciidae is a family of cod-like fishes, including most hakes.

They are native to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, being common in southern waters off Tasmania and New Zealand.

They are large predatory fishes inhabiting the waters of the continental shelf and upper continental slope, where they feed on small fishes such as lanternfishes. Several species are important commercial fishes, notably the blue grenadier, Macruronus novaezelandiae, which grows up to 130 cm long, and is fished in subantarctic waters of the southwest Pacific.

[edit] Species

There are 23 species in five genera:

Genus Lyconodes
- Lyconodes argenteus (Goode & Bean, 1896).
Genus Lyconus
- Lyconus brachycolus Holt & Byrne, 1906.
- Lyconus pinnatus Günther, 1887.
Genus Macruronus
- Cape grenadier, Macruronus capensis Davies, 1950.
- Macruronus maderensis Maul, 1951.
- Patagonian grenadier, Macruronus magellanicus Lönnberg, 1907.
- Blue grenadier, also known as hoki, blue hake, New Zealand whiptail, whiptail, or whiptail hake, Macruronus novaezelandiae (Hector, 1871).
  
  Blue grenadier, Macruronus novaezelandiae
Genus Merluccius
- Haddock or offshore hake, Merluccius albidus (Mitchill, 1818).
- Panama hake, Merluccius angustimanus Garman, 1899.
- Southern hake, Merluccius australis (Hutton, 1872).
- Silver hake, Merluccius bilinearis (Mitchill, 1814).
- Shallow-water cape hake, Merluccius capensis (Davies, 1950).
- South Pacific hake, Merluccius gayi gayi (Guichenot, 1848).
- Peruvian hake, Merluccius gayi peruanus Ginsburg, 1954.
- Cortez hake, Merluccius hernandezi Mathews, 1985.
- Argentine hake, Merluccius hubbsi Marini, 1933.
- European hake, Merluccius merluccius (Linnaeus, 1758).
- Deep-water cape hake, Merluccius paradoxus Franca, 1960.
- Merluccius patagonicus Lloris & Matallanas, 2003.
- Benguela hake, Merluccius polli Cadenat, 1950.
- North Pacific hake, Pacific hake, or Pacific whiting, Merluccius productus (Ayres, 1855).
- Senegalese hake, Merluccius senegalensis Cadenat, 1950.