Hake
Average size: 40 cm
Maximum size: over 100 cm
The hake has a long body covered in scales. The mouth is large and endowed with two or three series of numerous teeth long and thin. The back is gray-brown, the flanks are silver and the belly is white. The hake is a nectobenthic fish which lives in sandy bottoms between 50 and 700 meters deep. It mainly is a nocturnal predator that goes closer to the surface to catch sardines, anchovies, mackerels and crustaceans. In the Amalfi Coast it is erroneously called “merluzzo” (cod), maybe because of its scientific name. I reality the true cod (Gadus morhua) belongs to the same family (Gadidi) but it is a Atlantic and North Sea fish. The hake is caught with longline fishing and sometimes with nets. The maximum size allowed for fishing is 20 cm.
Photo gallery
Notes
Roberto Sandulli, “Dentro al mare della Costa d'Amalfi" guida alla fauna marina della Costiera Amalfitana, Ecostiera edizioni, anno 1999