MacGRF-GOR: ADDITIONAL DATA ON SPAWNING OF HAKE 



ranges from Alaska to at least the southern tip 

 of Baja California. Both species grow to much 

 larger sizes in the northern parts of their ranges, 

 but are much smaller in their southern ranges. 

 M. merluccius in the Mediterranean Sea is small- 

 er than the north Atlantic form, and both the 

 southern Baja California and African coasts 

 apparently produce dwarf races of their respec- 

 tive hake species. 



Most recent information from the Guinean 

 Trawling Survey (Williams, 1968) shows that 

 there are continuous populations of hake from 

 Norway to South Africa. However, the hake 

 taken off the west coast of Africa are ascribed 

 to several species other than M. merluccius. The 

 West African hake, M. poUi and unidentified M. 

 spp. were taken throughout the survey area from 

 the Gambia border to the Congo. The Senegal 

 hake M. senegalensis was taken in the northern 

 areas between the Gambia border and southern 

 Liberia with one questionable record from Ni- 

 geria, and the South African hake M. cape7isis 

 was taken in the southern areas between Came- 

 roun and the Congo. A sample of 50 M. sene- 

 galensis averaged 26.3 cm total length (range 

 18 to 27) , and a sample of M. poll! averaged 41.7 

 cm total length (range 35 to 49). 



SUMMARY 



The north Pacific hake, Merluccius producfus, 

 ranges from Alaska to at least southern Baja 

 California. 



The fecundity of individual hake varied 

 greatly ofi" Baja California and southern Cal- 

 ifornia, but there was no significant difference 

 in average fecundity among the samples taken 

 from widely separated sampling stations in this 

 area. Estimates of the number of advanced 



eggs contained in 50 prespawning hake averaged 

 216 eggs per gram of fish. 



Average size at first maturity for female hake 

 varied from 133 mm standard length off southern 

 Baja California to about 340 mm off northern 

 Baja California and southern California. Males 

 appeared to mature at smaller sizes 128 mm in 

 the south to 285 mm in the north. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Ahlstrom, E. H., AND R. C. Counts. 



1955. Eggs and larvae of the Pacific iial^e, Mer- 

 luccius productus. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. 

 Bull. 56: 295-.329. 

 Berry, F. H., and H. C. Perkins. 



1966. Survey of pelagic fishes of the California 

 Current area. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. Bull. 

 65: 625-682. 

 Best, E. A. 



1963. Contribution to the biology of the Pacific 

 hake, Merluccius productus (Ayres). Calif. Coop. 

 Oceanic Fish. Invest., Rep. 9: 51-56. 

 Ginsberg, I. 



1954. Whitings on the coasts of the American conti- 

 nents. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. Bull. 56: 

 187-208. 

 Hart, T. J. 



1948. The distribution and biology of hake. Biol. 

 Rev. (Cambridge) 23: 62-80. 

 MacGregor, J. S. 



1966. Fecundity of the Pacific hake, Merluccius 

 productus (Ayres). Calif. Fish Game 52: 111-116. 

 Nelson, M. 0., and H. A. Larkins. 



1970. Distribution and biology of Pacific hake: 

 A sjTiopsis. In Pacific hake, p. 23-33. U.S. 

 Fish" Wildl. Serv., Circ. 332. 

 Williams, F. 



1968. Report on the Guinean Trawling Survey. 

 Volume I. General report. Organisation of 

 African Unity, Scientific, Technical and Research 

 Commission, Lagos, Nigeria. OAU/STRC Publ. 

 99, 828 p. 



585 



