Hake
Hake names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Hake a genus of fishes of the cod family (Gadide)
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a genus of fishes of the cod family (Gadide), having a flattened head, an elongated body, two dorsal fins, of which the first is short, and the second very long, one very long anal fin, and the mouth destitute of barbels. One species, the common hake (M. vulgaris), is found in the British seas, in those of the N. of Europe, and in the Mediter- It is sometimes 3 or 4 feet in ranean. length; and is of a whitish color, grayish on the back. It is a very voracious fish, devouring great numbers of herrings and pilchards; hence it is frequently called the herring hake. It is important as an article of human food and of commerce, being salted and dried in the same manner as cod and ling. It is generally taken by lines, like cod and ling. One other species is known, M. gayi, which is common in the Strait of Magellan and on the coasts of Chile, and also occurs in New Zealand.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a valuable food fish belonging to the cod family. The American fisherman recognizes three species, the silver hake, or whiting; the white hake; and the squirrel hake. The last two are known also as codling and ling. Other species are found in the Pacific. Hake fishermen save the air bladders for isinglass. See Cod
Hake THOMAS GORDON, an Engglish poet and physician
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
THOMAS GORDON, an Engglish poet and physician; born in Leeds in 1809. He took his medical degree at Glasgow University in 1831, and practiced his profession in East Anglia, later becoming the physician and friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His poetry is thoroughly original, but quaint, vague, and subtly philosophical. His works include: "Poetic Lucubrations" (1828); "Vates: A Prose Epic" (1839); "New Symbols," verse (1875); "Maiden Ecstasy," verse (1880); "A Divine Pastoral" (1883). He died in London, Jan. 11, 1895.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 placed hake in the cod family and knew of only two species, the European Merluccius vulgaris and M. gayi of Chile; ichthyologists now put the true hakes in their own family, Merlucciidae, with roughly a dozen Merluccius species, while the American "white" and "squirrel" hake Aiton's lists in 1910 belong to a separate genus, Urophycis. What was then a line fishery has become one of the world's great trawl fisheries, with Cape hake off South Africa and Argentine hake among the biggest catches, and hake fillets a staple of frozen fish and of fish and chips. European hake was fished down so hard that the EU adopted a recovery plan for the northern stock in 2004; the stock rebuilt substantially afterwards. The one trade that has vanished is the one Aiton's noted: hake swim bladders are no longer saved for isinglass.
Written for this edition, 2026.