''Merluccius capensis'' (shallow-water Cape hake or South African hake) is a

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

in the genus '' Merluccius'', found in the south-eastern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, along the coast of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. It is a long, lean fish with a large head, similar in appearance to the European hake and the deep-water Cape hake. By day, it lives close to the bottom on the continental shelf and upper slope at depths not usually exceeding ; it makes a large, daily vertical

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

rising at night to feed in the nectonic zone, and it also migrates southwards in spring and northwards in autumn. It is an important commercial fish species in southern Africa.

Description

Very similar to ''

Merluccius merluccius ''Merluccius merluccius'', 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, t ...

'' (European hake) and '' Merluccius paradoxus'' (the deep-water Cape hake), ''M. capensis'' has an average length around 50 cm, up to a maximum around . It is a long, lean fish with a large head, light brown above and white or silvery below. The first dorsal fin has a single spine and 9 to 11 soft rays, while the second has 38 to 43 soft rays. The anal fin has no spines and 37 to 41 soft rays. The caudal fin has a flat end or is slightly concave.

Distribution

Its range extends southwards around the coast and into the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

. On the east coast, it is less abundant and is rarely found in significant numbers north of

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

. On the west coast, ''M. capensis'' occurs as far north as

Benguela Benguela (; Umbundu: Luombaka) is a city in western Angola, capital of Benguela Province. Benguela is one of Angola's most populous cities with a population of 555,124 in the city and 561,775 in the municipality, at the 2014 census. History P ...

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordinat ...

, where its distribution overlaps that of '' Merluccius polli'', the Benguela hake. It lives close to the bottom on the continental shelf and upper slope at depths from 50 to 500 m, usually not below 400 m. Its preferred depth partly overlaps that of ''Merluccius paradoxus'' between depths of 200 and 400 m. In South Africa, ''M. capensis'' is one of the most important commercial food fishes. Caught via demersal trawling, the associated industry is represented by the South Africa Deep Sea Trawling Industries Association (SADSTIA). It is known locally (from the

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...

''stokvis'') as stockfish, not to be confused with the dried cod usually known by that name.

Ecology

The shallow-water Cape hake might be classified as a euryphagous carnivore; immature specimens feed on small, deep-sea fishes and crustaceans. Large hake feed on squid and fishes, as well; smaller hake and jack mackerel are major components of their diet. available for download at http://www.fao.org The shallow-water Cape hake migrates vertically, daily, being

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer ...

by day and

nekton Nekton or necton (from the ) refers to the actively swimming aquatic organisms in a body of water. The term was proposed by German biologist Ernst Haeckel to differentiate between the active swimmers in a body of water, and the passive organisms t ...

ic by night. On a seasonal basis, it migrates southwards in spring and northwards in autumn. Spawning is variably reported either to be year-round, or to occur mainly from mid-spring to early summer. The Cape hake is often fished together with the species '' Merluccius paradoxus'', which generally lives at greater depths. Most reported catches combine both species, but the range of ''M. capensis'' continues towards the north-west coast of southern Africa, in the region of Angola, where, for practical purposes, ''M. paradoxus'' does not occur.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q386641 Merluccius Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fish of Angola Fish of Namibia Marine fish of South Africa Taxa named by François-Louis Laporte, comte de Castelnau Fish described in 1861