Merluccius gayi

South Pacific / Peruvian hake
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Gadiformes
Family:	Merlucciidae
Genus:	Merluccius
Species:	M. gayi
Binomial name
Merluccius gayi (Guichenot, 1848)
Range of M. g. gayi (green), M. g. peruanus (red), and some related species (blue)

Merluccius gayi is a merluccid hake of the genus Merluccius, with two subspecies, the South Pacific hake (M. g. gayi) and the Peruvian hake (M. g. peruanus), found in the south-western Pacific Ocean, along the coast of South America, from Peru (Merluccius gayi peruanus) to the Chilean coasts up to the Chiloé Archipelago. During the Southern Hemisphere summer, it migrates southwards in shallow waters, while in the winter it lives more to the north, in far deeper waters.

Merluccius gayi is very similar to the European hake (Merluccius merluccius). They feed on crustaceans, cephalopods and other fish.

References

• Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2009). "Merluccius gayi" in FishBase. June 2009 version.

External links

• Media related to Merluccius gayi at Wikimedia Commons