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White Hake

White hake is a groundfish species belonging to the gadoid or cod family of fishes. They have characteristics in common with cod, but in general they are more slender, soft-bodied fish with a slender caudal penduncle and weak tail. Their eyes are larger than the cod's but the chin barbel is smaller. They also have two dorsal fins, one anal fin and long narrow feeler-like ventral fins. The first dorsal fin has one ray which is filamentous and is as long as the fin proper is high.

White hake show considerable variation in colour but are usually muddy or purple brown above with sides sometimes bronzed and the belly a white or yellowish white peppered with small black spots. The dorsal and anal fins are edged with black and the pelvic fins are pale like the belly, but are usually tinged with yellow.

The white hake has many characteristics in common with another hake called the red or squirrel hake (U. chuss). The two differ in terms of numbers of rows of scales, the length of the filamentous ray on the dorsal fin, the length of the pelvic fins, the gillraker count and the position of the posterior angle of the mouth. There is considerable overlap and variation in some of these characteristics, but there is sufficient difference to consider the two as separate species. It would appear that the white hake is the more numerous of the two species.

Distribution

White hake are restricted in distribution to the western Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the southern part of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland southward to Cape Hatteras. Areas of greatest abundance are the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Scotian Shelf and the southwest slope of the Grand Banks.

Habits

In the early stages of its life history, the white hake is pelagic and remains so until it is approximately 8 to 13 cm long. After taking to the bottom they remain groundfish, rising into the upper layers only in pursuit of food. They occur in shallow water as well as in depths over 900 m and are more abundant on soft muddy bottom than on hard rocky ones. They are more stationary than cod and tolerate a wider temperature range (0.6° - 21°C) but avoid regions where the temperature is as low as or lower than 0.0°C. Bottom temperatures at which largest catches have been obtained have been cited as between 3° and 8°C.

Small hake in deep water have an interesting habit of taking refuge within the living shells of the giant scallop. This association is wide spread and well known.

Spawning

The spawning time for white hake varies over its range. It occurs in early autumn off south eastern Nova Scotia, in winter or spring in the Bay of Fundy, during summer in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and in mid summer in Subarea 3. There is some evidence that male white hake attain sexual maturity at a smaller size than females. Information on the numbers of eggs produced (fecundity) by hake indicate that it is probably the most productive of the commercially exploited groundfish species in the Northwest Atlantic.

Food

The important food items in their diet consist of large and small crustaceans, copepods, (shrimps, isopods, amphipods, crabs), small fish and squid.

Shelled molluscs and echinoderms are rarely if ever eaten. White hake use their long sensitive pelvic fins as an aid in procuring food by dragging them over the bottom. They are apparently able to recognize food items such as shrimp and crabs by contact.

Growth

There is little information available on the growth rate of white hake and most of this is confined to the first three of four years. Hake at one year of age are approximately 20 cm, 34 cm at two years, and 45 cm at three years. There is some evidence to indicate a faster growth rate in females.

Hake have been recorded up to 135 cm in length and a weight of 21 kg at that length. The majority of fish caught are considerably smaller, ranging from 40 to 70 cm.

Economic Importance

Landings of white hake by NAFO Subarea for the period 1968-80 are shown in Table 1. The totals for recent years indicate a fairly stable catch at about 17,000 metric tons (t) with the indicated increase in 1980. Most of the catch is taken in Subarea 4 which includes the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Scotian Shelf. Within this area, the largest catches are obtained in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence and the southern Scotian Shelf. The increased catch in 1980 was mainly in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The fishery in this area is primarily a directed trawl fishery, is seasonal in nature and peaks in the period from July to September. The majority of this catch is obtained by vessels less than 25 gross registered tons. In other areas hake are taken mostly as a by catch in other groundfish fisheries.

In the past white hake have been processed in a variety of ways depending on quantity, condition and available markets. At present a higher proportion is being processed in the frozen block form as opposed to fish meal.

The value of approximately 12,800 t of white hake landed by Canadian fishermen in 1979 was in the vicinity of $2.65 million.

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Last updated : 2004-08-17

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