''Merluccius paradoxus'', the deep-water Cape hake, 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 de ...

of the genus ''

Merluccius ''Merluccius'' is a genus of merluccid hakes from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, where mainly found relatively deep. The generic name is derived from French ''mer'' ("sea") and Latin ''lucius'', " pike." Species The 14 recognized species in th ...

'', found in the south-eastern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, along the coast of

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

, south of

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. Its range extends in decreasing abundance around the southern coast of Africa and into the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

, but it is at its most plentiful in the cold, nutrient-rich fishing grounds of the Benguela Current. In

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, in combination with ''Merluccius capensis'', the

shallow-water Cape hake ''Merluccius capensis'' (shallow-water Cape hake or South African hake) is a ray-finned fish in the genus ''Merluccius'', found in the south-eastern Atlantic Ocean, along the coast of South Africa. It is a long, lean fish with a large head, simil ...

, it is one of the most important commercial food fishes and locally is generally known as "

stockfish Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called "hjell" in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage lif ...

" (this English name being derived from the

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

''stokvis''). available for download at http://www.fao.org Very similar to ''M. merluccius'' (European hake), it has an average length of 40–60 cm, up to a maximum of about 80 cm. It lives close to the bottom in muddy areas on the continental shelf and slope. It usually is to be found at depths of 200 to 850 m, although most commonly below 400 m. Immature specimens feed on small deep-sea fishes and crustaceans, especially

Euphausiacea Krill are small crustaceans of the order (biology), order Euphausiacea, and are found in all the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian language, Norwegian word ', meaning "small Fry (biology), fry of fish", which is also oft ...

. Mature hake feed mainly on fish, squid, and crustaceans, especially

Mysidacea The Mysidacea is a group of shrimp-like crustaceans in the superorder Peracarida, comprising the two extant orders Mysida and Lophogastrida and the prehistoric Pygocephalomorpha The order Pygocephalomorpha is an extinct group of peracarid c ...

and Euphausiacea. Little information is available on its migratory habits as compared to those of ''M. capensis'', which has been fairly well studied. The deep-water Cape hake is often fished together with ''M. capensis'', which usually occurs at shallower depths. Most reported commercial catches combine both species, but towards the northwest coast of Southern Africa, in the region of Angola, ''M. paradoxus'' does not occur.

References

* paradoxus Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Marine fish of South Africa Fish of Namibia Fish described in 1960 {{Gadiformes-stub