Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Merluccius gayi
merluza, merluza del Pacífico sur, merluza chilena, peje palo, pescada, merluza maltona, South Pacific hake
Size> Females grow faster than do males, and they attain larger sizes (females, 115.4 cm; males, 67.9 cm).
Uncommonly seen because they prefer deeper waters to depths of several hundred meters. Larvae may be taken in surface waters.
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Actinopteri
Order
Gadiformes
Family
Merlucciidae
Genus
Merluccius
Species
gayi
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Epicopus gayi (Guichenot, 1848), Merluccius gayi gayi (Guichenot, 1848), Merlus gayi Guichenot, 1848 (Ahyong, S., et al., 2023).
Origin: Native
- Grove, J.S. Lavenberg, R.J. (1997) The Fishes of the Galapagos Islands. Stanford University Press, Stanford California. 862 pp.
- Appeltans, W. Bouchet, P., Boxshall, G.A., Fauchald, K., Gordon, D.P., Hoeksema, B.W., Poore, G.C.B., van Soest, R.W.M., Stöhr, S., Walter, T.C., Costello, M.J. (eds.) (2010) World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Available online at http://www.marinespecies.org.
- McCosker, J.E. Rosenblatt, R.H. (2010) The fishes of the Galápagos Archipelago: an update. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sc., Ser. 4, vol. 61, Suppl. II, no. 11: 167-195.
- Horton, T. Horton, T., Kroh, A., Ahyong, S., Bailly, N., Boyko, C. B., Brandão, S. N., Gofas, S., Hooper, J. N. A., Hernandez, F., Holovachov, O., Mees, J., Molodtsova, T. N., Paulay, G., Decock, W., Dekeyzer, S., Poffyn, G., Vandepitte, L., Vanhoorne, B., Adlard, R., ... Zhao, Z. (2021) World Register of Marine Species. Available from https://www.marinespecies.org at VLIZ.
- Ahyong, S. Boyko, C.B., Bailly, N., Bernot, J., Bieler, R, ... Williams, D.M., Williams, G., Wilson, R., Witkowski, J., Wyatt, N., Wylezich, C., Xavier, J., Xu, K., Zanol, J., Zeidler, W., Zhao, Z., Zullini, A. (2023) World Register of Marine Species. Available from https://www.marinespecies.org at VLIZ.
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Merluccius gayi", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=13084. Accessed 7 May 2025.