100

Spawning ground of both hake species seems to be located southward Cape Timiris, during the cold season, avoiding the permanent upwelling off Cape Blanc. In spite of both species shared their distribution area and a depth belt (between 100- 500 m), they were not caught in the same sampling stations regularly, which implies a not simultaneous spawning. The increasing of male’s proportion in the concentration’s zones of spawning females is a behavior already observed in some other hakes (Di Giacomo et al., 1993; Pájaro et al., 2005). M. senegalensis seems to have a spawning season more prolonged. However, because the wide distribution of M. polli the spawning ground could be extended southward, out of the study zone, where is just suggested a spawning area of this species (Garcia, 1982). The observed bathymetric in the mature specimens of both species are related to their habitats and do not hinder considering the black hake fishery as a single-species entity for stock assessment and management purposes.-19-18-17-16W 1