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Merluccius capensis Castelnau, 1861

Shallow-water Cape hake
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Merluccius capensis   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Merluccius capensis (Shallow-water Cape hake)
Merluccius capensis
Picture by Le Noury, P.

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: Castelnau.

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

Marine; bathydemersal; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 50 - 1000 m (Ref. 27121), usually 150 - 450 m (Ref. 27121). Deep-water; 11°S - 37°S, 5°E - 33°E (Ref. 58452)

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

Southeast Atlantic: Baie Farte, Angola around Cape to Natal, South Africa. Also found on Valdivia Bank (26°18'S, 6°20'E).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 47.4  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 140 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6605); common length : 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1371)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 47 - 54; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 37 - 41. Light brown above, silvery to white below (Ref. 6605).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found on the continental shelf and slope to depths over 1,000 m (Ref. 27121). Juveniles (to about 64 cm) feed on small crustaceans and small deep-sea fishes such as lanternfishes, whereas larger individuals feed chiefly on small hakes and jack mackerel (Ref. 1371); cannibalism is common (Ref. 27121). Migrates southward in the spring and northward in autumn (Ref. 1371). Breeds throughout the year, peaks of reproductive activity in August and September (Ref. 36731). Marketed smoked, frozen, and fresh on ice; eaten steamed, fried and baked (Ref. 9988).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | 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. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 12 July 2012

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial
FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Life cycle
Reproduction
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Internet sources

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

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 7.7 - 14.4, mean 10.2 °C (based on 78 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00513 (0.00340 - 0.00773), b=3.11 (2.98 - 3.24), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.9   ±0.65 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 9.2 (7.9 - 12.1) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 21 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.07-0.13).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High to very high vulnerability (67 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Very high vulnerability (86 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   High.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 6.55 [3.45, 22.85] mg/100g; Iron = 0.282 [0.055, 0.771] mg/100g; Protein = 16.8 [15.7, 18.1] %; Omega3 = 0.123 [0.066, 0.231] g/100g; Selenium = 32.1 [14.4, 77.4] μg/100g; VitaminA = 9.09 [1.90, 42.59] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.225 [0.151, 0.358] mg/100g (wet weight);