European hake (lat.Merluccius merluccius) is white sea fish that belongs to the family Merlucidae. Across our coast it has been known under many names such as ”magarčić”, ”mol”, ‘tovar”, ”murluc”, ”oslić”, and ”ugota”. Its body is long and slim with a large head attached to it. On the head there are large jaws on which are placed number of sharp, curved teeth. Males are slimmer and longer then female individuals. Their bodies are covered with gentle fish scales. Its color depends on depths and area they inhabit but mainly it varies between light blue and grey on the back (sometimes with the shade of gold) to silver on the flanks. After it’s caught, it suddenly becomes grey and if left to stay for a longer period of time it gets white. The inside of the jaws is black. The largest recorded size is 140 cm and 15 kg in the Atlantic and about 10 kg here. Hale is a huge glutton – it feeds on small fish, , cephalopods and crabs. Its life span is about 20 years and it becomes sexually mature in between the years 4 and 5. It lives in deep sea, at the depth of 30-1075 m. It is usually found at the depth of 70 – 370 m. Its habitat is considered to be the area of east Atlantic from Island and Norway to Mauritania and all over the Mediterrannean. Its meat is white, tasty, soft, juicy and easily digestible which is why it’s highly recommended for the patients’ diet. On sale one can find fresh (whole), filleted and breaded hake.