Species: Urophycis floridana, Southern Hake, Southern Codling

Urophycis floridana (Bean & Dresel, 1884)

Southern Hake, Southern Codling

Body soft, elongate, tail base narrow; no V shaped ridge on top of head; eye small, about 1/5 of head length; gill openings wide, extending above pectoral fins; mouth large, extends to under center of eye or further back, overhung by snout; chin barbel short; well developed patch of teeth on front of roof of mouth; 2 upper gill rakers; fins without spines; 2 dorsal fins, 1st short based and triangular, 11-13 rays, without an elongated ray; second long based, with straight edge, 54-59 rays; 1 anal fin, long based, without an indentation on edge, 49-52 rays; pelvic fins under end of opercle, bases well separated, with 2 rays forming long feelers, longest ray not reaching origin of anal fin; tail fin separate from dorsal and anal fins, small, rounded; pectoral fin not reaching beyond anal fin origin; lateral line system on head with pores; scales round, overlapping, not set at right angles, ~93 along lateral line; 9-12 rows between dorsal fin origin and lateral line; lateral line complete.

Brownish, belly whitish; a dark blotch on operculum; lateral line dark, with a series of pale spots; a series of dark spots on cheek; dorsal fin dark, without white margin.

Reaches 35 cm.

On and above the bottom; juveniles in estuaries.

Depth range: 5-1011 m.

N Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico.