Silver Hake
Merluccius bilinearis
Also known as: Atlantic Hake, Hake, New England Hake
About This Species
A schooling marine fish of the northwest Atlantic continental shelf, found over sand and mud bottoms at depths that shift seasonally, moving into deeper offshore water in winter and closer to shore in warmer months. Anglers and divers most often encounter it around dusk and after dark, when it feeds actively higher in the water column on smaller fish and invertebrates. It is best looked for, or fished for, from boats over known shelf grounds during the warmer months when it is closer inshore.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- As a Near Threatened species subject to commercial fishing pressure, anyone catching or observing this fish should follow the current regional fisheries quotas and size limits in force where they are fishing, since these are reviewed periodically and vary between US and Canadian waters.
- Handle any caught individual quickly and carefully if releasing it, minimising time out of water.
- Because management measures change, checking the latest regional fisheries authority guidance before an outing is the safest approach.
NTGadiformesMerlucciidae
Seasonal Activity
173,810 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Order
- Gadiformes
- Family
- Merlucciidae
Photo
(c) asli ertekin, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by asli ertekin
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.