Obtained from Whitehead et al 1987, reproduced by permission of UNESCO. © UNESCO
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Family: Phycidae
Common Name: Red hake, Squirrel hake, Ling

Size: to 50 cm TL (male/unsexed).

Habitat: Demersal; marine; depth to 35 m. Soft mud and sand bottoms, not on rocks, gravel or shells. Juveniles stay coastal and shallow (4-6 m); adults inhabit deeper waters, between 110 and 130 m, sometimes to deeper than 550 m. Juveniles live in scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) and remain close to scallop beds until they mature.

Range: From North Carolina to southern Nova Scotia, straying to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Diet: Shrimps, amphipods and other crustaceans, also squid and herring, flatfish, mackerel and others.

Reproduction: Oviparous. Spawn from spring to autumn, commonly early summer.

Comments: Commercial and gamefish species

References: Bigelow, H. B. and Schroeder, W. C., 1953; Cohen, D. M., T. Inada, T. Iwamoto and N. Scialabba, 1990; Frimodt, C., 1995.