Summary

Hake is one of the most frequently consumed fish in Spain, and is closely related to cod. See also

Clinical Relevance

IgE-mediated reactions

In a study of Spanish children hake was shown to provoke the strongest IgE responses.

Other topics

Hake is closely related to codfishes, belonging to the order Gadiformes, but has a special systematic position because of its distribution. The family has only one genus. It is distributed in the northeast Atlantic and the southwest coast of Europe. It lives in deep water and thus can travel back and forth between the hemispheres in the cooler waters. There are some species in the Pacific. Hake can be over 1 meter long but there are small and medium-sized species as well. Cannibalism is quite common, and a favorite food is squid.

Hake is one of the most frequently consumed fish in Spain. In a study in Spanish children, hake was shown to provoke the strongest IgE responses. When RAST® inhibition was performed with several fish species, it was shown that hake had allergens in common with other species. Gad c 1 was not an important allergen in hake despite the close relation to cod.

Cross-Reactivity

Species within groups of fish, like Gadiformes (examples: codfish and hake) and Scombroid fishes (examples: mackerel and tuna) seem to share allergenic components. The overlap of allergen specificity between the groups seems to be moderate or even small.