English hake
Merluccius gayi (Guichenot, 1848)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Merluccius gayi is a merluccid hake of the genus Merluccius, with two subspecies, the South Pacific hake or Chilean common hake (M. g. gayi) and the Peruvian hake (M. g. peruanus), found in the south-western Pacific Ocean, along the coast of South America, from Peru (Merluccius gayi peruanus) to the Chilean coasts north to the Chiloé Archipelago. During the Southern Hemisphere summer, it migrates southwards in shallow waters, while in the winter, it lives more to the north, in far deeper waters.
M. gayi is very similar to the European hake (Merluccius merluccius). They feed on crustaceans, cephalopods, and other fish.
Since at least 2023 stocks of Merluccius gayi gayi in Chile are depleted causing concern among artisanal fishers.
Wikipedia contributors, Merluccius gayi; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:57:10.020994+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Merluccius gayi (Guichenot, 1848)
- Name authority
- (Guichenot, 1848)
- Common name
- English hake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Gadiformes
- Family
- Merlucciidae
- Genus
- Merluccius
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderGadiformes
- familyMerlucciidae Rafinesque, 1815
- subfamilyMerlucciinae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusMerluccius Rafinesque, 1810
- speciesMerluccius gayi (Guichenot, 1848)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Merluccius. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Panama hakeMerluccius angustimanus Garman, 1899 | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chilean hakeMerluccius australis (Hutton, 1872) | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Atlantic hakeMerluccius bilinearis (Mitchill, 1814) | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Argentine hakeMerluccius hubbsi Marini, 1933 | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| European hakeMerluccius merluccius (Linnaeus, 1758) | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| North Pacific hakeMerluccius productus (Ayres, 1855) | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Patagonian hakeMerluccius patagonicus Lloris & Matallanas, 2003 | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| offshore hakeMerluccius albidus (Mitchill, 1818) | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cortez hakeMerluccius hernandezi Mathews, 1985 | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| deep-water Cape hakeMerluccius paradoxus Franca, 1960 | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Benguela hakeMerluccius polli Cadenat, 1950 | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Merluccius tasmanicus Matallanas & Lloris, 2006 | MerlucciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Merlus gayi Guichenot, 1848 Guichenot, 1848 | synonym |
| Epicopus gayi (Guichenot, 1848) (Guichenot, 1848) | synonym |
| Merluccius gayi gayi (Guichenot, 1848) (Guichenot, 1848) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=293628 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3ZV72. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.