Merluccius hubbsi
The South Atlantic hake (Argentine hake): a silvery fish with an elongated body and two dorsal fins, living on the shelf and slope from southeastern Brazil to Patagonia, between 100 and 200 m. It is mainly a commercial fishery species: we found no organized recreational fishing for it.
Also called: merluza, merluza-argentina, Argentine hake
The Argentine hake is a fish of the family Merlucciidae, typical of the shelf and slope of the South Atlantic: it occurs from southeastern and southern Brazil, roughly between 21°S and 34°S, to Argentina and the Malvinas/Falklands, down to 54°S. Adults live mainly between 100 and 200 m, move closer to the coast in spring and summer, head for deep water after spawning, and make daily vertical migrations. Large fish eat other fish (anchovies, hakes, notothenioids, lanternfishes), squid and zooplankton; small ones eat mysids and amphipods. It grows to 95 cm. It is the basis of large commercial fisheries in Argentina and Uruguay, and in Brazil it became a target of the trawl fleet from 2001; stocks in all three countries show signs of overfishing.
Elongated silvery body with a golden sheen on the back and a whitish-silver belly. Two dorsal fins (the second and the anal fin long), short pectoral fins that do not reach the origin of the anal fin, and short, blunt gill rakers. No barbel on the chin and no filament on the pelvic fins, which separates hake from the codling (Urophycis) and many weakfishes (Cynoscion). Lives deeper than the coastal weakfishes.
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Each card shows the day's index (0 to 100) and, below it, a strip with the index for each hour, from 0h to 23h. from poor to excellent.
Southwestern Atlantic, from southeastern Brazil (around 21°S) to Argentina and the Malvinas/Falklands, down to 54°S (FishBase). In Brazil there are two stocks: the Southeast, between 21°S and 29°S, and the South, between 29°S and 34°S, the latter shared with Uruguay (Vaz-dos-Santos, 2006).
Habitat: Continental shelf and slope, on the bottom and above it (benthopelagic), mainly between 100 and 200 m (50 to 800 m overall). It moves closer to the coast in spring and summer, and to deep water in winter, after spawning.
coast
It moves closer to the coast in spring and summer, when it is easier to reach for anglers fishing from a boat; in winter it goes to deep water, after spawning. In Brazil, spawning follows a north-south gradient, most intense in summer at 21°S and in winter at 34°S.
Any time. It makes daily vertical migrations; deep bottom fishing does not follow daylight well, and current and drift matter more.
Temperate-water species: a cold front at the surface hardly changes the bottom, but the seasons shift the position of the school on the shelf.
Small effect at 100 m or deeper; the problem with the front is the rough sea.
Little influence at this depth.
Little effect on the fish.
Does not apply at sea. The equivalent is the bottom current.
At this depth the boat's noise barely reaches the fish.
Strong wind, common in the South Atlantic, pulls the line off plumb and stops the drift. Prefer calm seas.
Tidal and shelf currents set the drift; the direct effect on the fish is small.
Concentrated between 100 and 200 m; it rises in the water column at night, following the food.
lures
natural baits
accessories
Look for the outer shelf bottom and lower the bait until it touches the bottom, then reel up a little: hake stays near the bottom and just above it.
Summary of the regulations we found, with the source for each. Rules change; before keeping or transporting fish, check with the state environmental agency.
Conservation: It is not on the Brazilian national list (Portaria GM/MMA nº 1.667/2026) and has not been assessed by the IUCN. In the three countries where it is fished (Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina), stocks show clear signs of overfishing. We found no minimum size, bag limit or Brazilian federal closed season specific to recreational fishing for this species.
In Uruguay, the minimum landing and sale size for hake is 35 cm total length. For shore anglers, minimum sizes apply only to sale. The decree allows a 15% tolerance, by weight landed per trip, for smaller fish. The text does not address recreational fishing.
The Joint Technical Commission of the Maritime Front banned, from July 1 to September 30, 2026, hake fishing and the use of bottom trawl gear in a sector of the Argentina-Uruguay Common Fishing Zone, between 35°00'S and 37°38'S, and also the use of midwater nets at night in the sector. The measure targets the commercial fleet and protects spawning adults and juveniles. The commission repeats similar closures in other quarters and years (for example, Res. 1/20, from Apr 1 to Jun 30, 2020), so check the resolution in force.
Brought up from 100 m or deeper, it arrives with barotrauma. The best approach is to keep only what you will take. If you release it, use a descending device, which returns the fish to the bottom. Release any under 35 cm, Uruguay's minimum; FishBase gives about 30 cm as the size at first maturity.
White, soft and delicate flesh, sold fresh or frozen; it is the fish used for hake fillets, good fried, baked or in fish stew.
Length-weight relationship W = a·Lb (a = 0.00501, b = 3.09; FishBase (relação peso-comprimento bayesiana, estimativa da própria espécie)). It's an average: a fat or lean fish can vary by 10% to 20%.
estimated weight
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The season weights (months), the time of day and the sensitivities (cold, pressure, moon, wind, rain, tide, strong light, murky water and noise) are the app's editorial estimates, based on the literature below and on the field experience of anglers and guides. They are not official data nor a measurement made for this species, and they may vary by region and year. Closed seasons and legal rules appear in the rules section, with the norm and a link.
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