Urophycis floridana
Southern Hake
NS
GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Gadiformes (Cod, Hakes and others)
Phycidae (Phycid Hakes)
Urophycis
Urophycis floridana (Southern Hake)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Moderately fusiform body; short, triangular first dorsal fin; long second dorsal fin; short chin barbel; snout moderately blunt, projecting slightly beyond jaws; jaws subterminal, slightly oblique, extending beyond posterior margin of orbit; head 22%, predorsal length 23-24%, pelvic fin 24-30% of TL; snout length 25-26%, upper jaw 48-49%, lower jaw 52%, eye length 20-23%, caudal peduncle depth 15.8-17.7% of head length; 2 gill rakers on epibranch; pectoral fin pointed, not reaching anus; first dorsal fin originating over pectoral fin base with 12 or 13 rays; second dorsal fin originating immediately behind first dorsal fin with 59 rays; pelvic fin with 2 long rays extending to anus; anal fin with 49-52 rays; second dorsal and anal fins narrowly separated from caudal fin; caudal fin with convex posterior margin; lateral line continuous; 110-120 scales from opercular flap to caudal fin base and 9-12 from dorsal fin base to lateral line; 50 vertebrae
Brown to bluish dorsally and silvery ventrally; lateral line dark with row of pale spots; series of dark spots on head; dusky blotch on operculum; first dorsal fin partially black
Distribution
Western North Atlantic from Beaufort, North Carolina, to the northern Gulf of Mexico westward to northern Mexico
Northern Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Continental shelf to 400 m, most common at less than 300 m
Biology
Polychaetes, crustaceans, and fishes
350 mm TL
Found onshore but most common in less than 300 m. Shallow-water specimens feed on crustaceans, worms and fish. Moves into bays and coastal waters during colder weather (Ref. 26938). Minimum depth reported taken from Ref. 57178.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2014-09-16. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial.
References
Hildebrand and Cable 1938
Svetovidov 1962
Hoese and Moore 1977
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Cohen et al. 1990
Boschung 1992
Cohen, D.M., T. Inada, T. Iwamoto and N. Scialabba (1990) FAO species catalogue. Vol. 10. Gadiform fishes of the world (Order Gadiformes). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cods, hakes, grenadiers and other gadiform fishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(10). Rome: FAO. 442 p.
Cohen, D.M. (1978) Gadidae. In W. Fischer (ed.) FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western Central Atlantic (Fishing Area 31), Volume 2. FAO, Rome.
Ocean Biogeographic Information System (2006) OBIS-extracted Depth Data. Harvested by E.Agbayani July 2006 at www.iobis.org.
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