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The shallow-water Cape or South African hake (''Merluccius capensis'') is a merluccid hake of the genus ''Merluccius'', found in the south-eastern Atlantic Ocean, along the coast of South Africa. Its range extends southwards around the coast and into the Indian Ocean. On the east coast, it is less abundant and is rarely found in significant numbers north of KwaZulu-Natal. On the west coast, ''M. capensis'' occurs as far north as Benguela in Angola, where its distribution overlaps that of ''Merluccius polli'', the Benguela hake. In South Africa, ''M. capensis'' is one of the most important commercial food fishes. It is known locally (from the Afrikaans ''stokvis'') as stockfish, not to be confused with the dried cod usually known by that name. Very similar to ''Merluccius merluccius'' (European hake) and ''Merluccius paradoxus'' (the deep-water Cape hake), ''M. capensis'' has an average length of about 50 cm, up to a maximum of about . It lives close to the bottom on the continental shelf and upper slope at depths from 50 to 500 m, usually not below 400 m. Its preferred depth partly overlaps that of ''Merluccius paradoxus'' between depths of 200 and 400 m. The shallow-water Cape hake might be classified as a euryphagous carnivore; immature specimens feed on small, deep-sea fishes and crustaceans. Large hake feed on squid and fishes, as well; smaller hake and jack mackerel are major components of their diet.〔 available for download at http://www.fao.org〕 The shallow-water Cape hake migrates vertically, daily, being demersal by day and nektonic by night. On a seasonal basis, it migrates southwards in spring and northwards in autumn. Spawning is variably reported either to be year-round, or to occur mainly from mid-spring to early summer. The Cape hake is often fished together with the species ''Merluccius paradoxus'', which generally lives at greater depths. Most reported catches combine both species, but the range of ''M. capensis'' continues towards the north-west coast of southern Africa, in the region of Angola, where, for practical purposes, ''M. paradoxus'' does not occur.〔 == References == * 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Merluccius capensis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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