Cortez hake
Merluccius hernandezi Mathews, 1985
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 hernandezi, the Cortez hake, is a species of fish from the family Merlucciidae, the true hakes. It is endemic to the Gulf of California where it can be found in the epipelagic and mesopelagic zones over the continental shelf, open sea, and sea mounts, to a depth of around 300m. It is a small species which has been referred to as a "dwarf hake" and is of little interest to fisheries, other than small scale local fisheries. It was described in 1985 and small hake in the Gulf of California were previously considered to be Panama hakes (Merluccius angustimanus). This species differs from the Panama hake in that in juveniles the caudal fin has a central lobe and is truncate in adults, whereas the caudal fin is emarginate in the Panama hake, its pectoral fin projects well beyond the anus in but does not do so in the Panama hake.
Wikipedia contributors, Merluccius hernandezi; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:54:06.457969+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Merluccius hernandezi Mathews, 1985
- Name authority
- Mathews, 1985
- Common name
- Cortez 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 hernandezi Mathews, 1985
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 |
| English hakeMerluccius gayi (Guichenot, 1848) | 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 |
| 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 |
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.
- Mathews, C. P. (1985). Meristic studies of the Gulf of California species of Merluccius, with a description of a new species. Journal of Natural History, 19 (4): 697–718, Pl. 1. [Date of publication confirmed by Evenhuis 2003:60 [ref. 27365].]. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222938500770421 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:3ZV73. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.