''Merluccius hernandezi'', the Cortez hake, is a species of fish from the

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 ...

Merlucciidae The Merlucciidae, commonly called merluccid hakes , are a family of cod-like fish, including most hakes. available for download at http://www.fao.org They are native to cold water in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and typically are found at de ...

, the true hakes. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...

where it can be found in the epipelagic and mesopelagic zones over 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 ...

, open sea, and

sea mount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff, cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from volcano#Extinct, extinct v ...

s, to a depth of around 300m. It is a small species which has been referred to as a "dwarf hake" and is of little interest to fisheries, other than small scale local fisheries. It was described in 1985 and small hake in the Gulf of California were previously considered to be Panama hakes (''Merluccius angustimanus''). This species differs from the Panama hake in that in juveniles the caudal fin has a central lobe and is truncate in adults, whereas the caudal fin is emarginate in the Panama hake, its

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

projects well beyond the anus in but does not do so in the Panama hake.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1961145 Merluccius Fish described in 1985