Merlucciidae
by A. N. Svetovidov
Two dorsal and one anal fin, second dorsal and anal fins notched. No barbel on chin. First vertebra and neural spine attached to skull. Frontals separate, with two ridges diverging from supra-occipital crest and bordering a large triangular depression. Parapophyses expanded, without ribs excepting first short pair and with epipleurals only on first three or four vertebrae.
Marine bathypelagic and demersal fishes of open sea, on shelves and continental slopes, from 50 to 1,000 m in temperate, subtropical and tropical parts of Atlantic and Pacific. Gregarious, in large and dense shoals, seasonal shorewards and offshore migrations, young fishes more close to shore. Feeding mainly on fish, young on krill. Reproduction practically in all seasons of year, eggs pelagic. Abundance considerable in all species. Commercially important group of fishes, especially in North and South Atlantic.
Genera 1; also 1 genus of doubtful systematic position, Lyconus, in which tail is long and tapering, without caudal fin, with one dorsal and anal fin continued to end of body.
Recent revisions: Franca (1962), Maurin (1964).