European hake
Merluccius merluccius (Linnaeus, 1758)
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 merluccius or the European hake is a merluccid hake of the genus Merluccius. Other vernacular names include Cornish salmon and herring hake. It is a predatory species, which was often netted alongside one of its favoured prey, the Atlantic herring, hence the latter common name. It is found in the eastern Atlantic from Norway and Iceland south to Mauritania and into the Mediterranean Sea. It is an important species in European fisheries and is heavily exploited, with some populations being fished unsustainably.
Wikipedia contributors, Merluccius merluccius; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:32:55.838479+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Merluccius merluccius (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- European 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 merluccius (Linnaeus, 1758)
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 |
| 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.
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=126484 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:3ZV78. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.