Pacific Hake Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Slender, elongated body with a silvery-grey back and lighter sides
• Large mouth with sharp, prominent teeth and a slightly protruding lower jaw
• Two dorsal fins - a short triangular first fin and a long, notched second fin
• Single long anal fin
• Deeply forked tail
• No chin barbel; typically 30-60 cm long

Common look-alikes

• Silver hake: very similar in shape but found in the Atlantic rather than the Pacific, so range separates the two
• Walleye pollock: deeper, more mottled body with a rounder profile and a slightly different jaw shape
• Pacific cod: much stockier, with a visible chin barbel that Pacific hake lacks entirely

Where you'll see one

Pacific hake ranges along the eastern Pacific coast from Baja California to the Gulf of Alaska, forming large schools that migrate vertically, staying deep during the day and rising toward the surface at night over the continental shelf and slope to feed on smaller fish and krill. Populations shift with water temperature and ocean conditions from year to year.