The Merlucciidae, commonly called merluccid hakes , are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of cod-like fish, including most hakes. available for download at http://www.fao.org They are native to cold water in the

Atlantic 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 an ...

and Pacific Oceans, and typically are found at depths greater than in subtropical, temperate, sub-

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

or sub-

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

regions. The best known species are in the genera ''Macruronus'' and ''Merluccius''. These predatory fish are up to in length, though most only reach about half that length, inhabiting the waters of the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

and upper continental slope, where they feed on small fish such as

lanternfish Lanternfishes (or myctophids, from the Greek μυκτήρ ''myktḗr'', "nose" and ''ophis'', "serpent") are small mesopelagic fish of the large family Myctophidae. One of two families in the order Myctophiformes, the Myctophidae are represente ...

es. Several species are important commercial fish, for example the

blue grenadier The blue grenadier (also known as hoki, blue hake, New Zealand whiptail, or whiptail hake, ''Macruronus novaezelandiae'') is a merluccid hake of the family Merlucciidae found around southern Australia and New Zealand, as well as off both the Atla ...

(''Macruronus novaezelandiae'') that is fished in the southwest Pacific and the North Pacific hake (''Merluccius productus'') that is fished off western North America. The taxonomy of the Merluccidae is not settled, with some authorities raising two or three subfamilies, the Merluccinae, Macruroninae, and Steindachneriinae, while other authorities raise the latter two into their own families, the Macruronidae and the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

Steindachneriidae. This would mean the genera would be arranged as: * Steindachneriidae ** ''Steindachneria'' * Macruronidae ** ''Lyconodes'' ** ''Lyconus'' ** ''Macruronus'' * Merlucciidae '' ss'' ** ''Merluccius''

References

External links

Terra Curanda Fishery Statistics
Marine fish families {{Gadiformes-stub