The blue grenadier (also known as hoki, blue hake, New Zealand whiptail, or whiptail hake, ''Macruronus novaezelandiae'') is a

merluccid hake 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 ...

of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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 ...

found around southern Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, as well as off both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America from

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

at depths of between . It feeds in midwater on small squids,

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

s, and fish. Its length is between . It is a slender, silvery fish similar in appearance to the gemfish. The meat of the fish is white and almost always sold in fillets; culinarily it is considered a whitefish.

Commercial use

Australian supermarkets have many hoki products, mainly in pre-packaged processed foods. Often the manufactured meat result is manufactured into a fish cutlet shape and then battered or crumbed to further give a good fresh look. The hoki is one of the species used in

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

Filet-O-Fish The Filet-O-Fish is a fish sandwich (or burger) sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was created in 1962 by Lou Groen, a McDonald's franchise owner in Cincinnati, Ohio, in response to falling hamburger sales on ...

, Fish Fingers and McFish sandwiches. It was previously served at

Long John Silver's Long John Silver's (formerly known as Long John Silver's Seafood Shoppes and sometimes abbreviated as LJS) is an American chain of fast-food restaurants that specializes in seafood. The brand's name is derived from the novel ''Treasure Island ...

and

Denny's Denny's (also known as Denny's Diner on some of the locations' signage) is an American table service diner-style restaurant chain. It operates over 1,700 restaurants in many countries. Description Originally opened as a coffee shop under t ...

restaurants in the

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, and continues to be served at Denny's in New Zealand. The blue grenadier is a very important commercial species in Australia. They are mostly caught in the south-east, off southern New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia and are considered very good eating, particularly when fresh.

Sustainable consumption

The blue grenadier is the subject of a large commercial fishery industry in New Zealand, which has been certified by the

Marine Stewardship Council The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a non-profit organization which aims to set standards for sustainable fishing. Fisheries that wish to demonstrate they are well-managed and sustainable compared to the MSC's standards are assessed by a te ...

(MSC) as well-managed and sustainable in March 2001. New Zealand has established a fishing quota of about 100,000 tons. The first MSC certification ended in April 2007. Reassessment of the certification commenced in early 2005 and finished in October 2007."Meet the fishers."

. No date. Accessed 2009-09-10 A 2009 ''The New York Times, New York Times'' article raised questions over the sustainability of blue grenadier fishing practices around New Zealand, though its conclusions were disputed by New Zealand representatives. However, recent quotas on catches have been reduced by nearly two thirds from 275,000 to 100,000 tons. In 2010, Greenpeace, Greenpeace International added the blue grenadier (hoki) to its seafood red list. The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand (Forest & Bird) assigns hoki an E grade (red - avoid). Both organisations state damage to the sea floor due to bottom trawling and bycatch of species such as New Zealand fur seals, albatrosses, petrels and basking sharks as the primary reasons for the ratings. In September 2013, as New Zealand Hoki, it continued to appear on the MSC's list of sustainable fish."Sustainable Seafood Shopping."

. No date. Accessed 2013-09-28

References

External links

World Aquaculture's Hoki ProfileTerra Curanda Fisheries Section
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue grenadier Merlucciidae, blue grenadier Commercial fish Marine fish of New Zealand Marine fish of Southern Australia Fish described in 1871, blue grenadier

Commercial use

Sustainable consumption

References

Further reading

External links