SILVER HAKE 



By 



Raymond L. Fritz 



Fishery Research Biologist 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



Woods Hole, Massachusetts 



The silver hake or whiting (Me rlucci us 

 bilinearis) is one of the few fishes that are 

 used for a variety of products. Some fish, 

 such as haddock and cod, are used chiefly 

 for human food and some, such as men- 

 haden, are used chiefly for reduction to oil 

 and meal, but the silver hake is used for 

 human food, for reduction, and for animal 

 food. It is one of the most abundant fishes 

 of our Atlantic coast, and, because of the 

 many uses to which it can be put, the silver 

 hake is fished for by a large and varied 

 fleet. In 1959, this species ranked third in 

 total pounds landed along the Atlantic coast 

 with a catch of 115 million pounds, valued 

 at $2.3 million. 



This is a slender, soft-rayed fish with 

 a streamlined body and well-developed 

 teeth. The absence of a chin whisker on 

 the lower jaw is a good superficial charac- 

 teristic to distinguish the silver hake from 

 such species as the red hake and the white 

 hake. The fins are transparent; the upper 

 fins and tail are edged with black and the 

 lower fins with white. The upper part of 

 its body, extending to just below the lateral 

 line, is gray mottled with brown. The 

 lower part of its body is silvery iridescent; 



Figure 1.- -A young silver hake one-half of an inch in length. 



thus accounting for its common name. 

 Shortly after it dies, the fish becomes 

 more silvery in color and the upper part 

 of the body changes to a brownish-black 

 color. 



There are 10 hakes of the genus Merluccius, 

 including the silver hake, found in many 

 parts of the world. Other hake species 

 occur off the coast of Chile, England, 

 South Africa, and the west coast of the 

 United States. The Pacific hake (M erluccius 

 productus) is found from Southern California 

 to Northwestern Alaska. Although generally 

 abundant, it is discarded at this time by 

 most of the local fishermen and not utilized 

 to any extent except for animal food. There 

 are two species along the Atlantic coast 

 of the United States; the silver hake is the 

 more important commercial species, while 

 the American hake (Merluccius albidus), which 

 dwells in greater depths (600 feet or more), 

 is seldom caught by fishermen. 



Distribution and Movements 



Silver hake are largely bottom dwellers 

 inhabiting the Continental Shelf waters of 

 eastern North America from Newfoundland 

 to North Carolina. Thus, we see that this 

 species is capable of adapting itself to warm 

 waters of the south and to cold waters of 

 the north. The largest concentration of these 

 fish is located off the New England coast. 

 During the summer, the silver hake is 

 numerous in the inshore waters from the 

 shore out to depths of approximately 300 

 feet. As winter approaches, the fish grad- 

 ually move to deeper waters, frequently 

 seeking depths of 600 feet or more. They 



