Taxonomy. First record from Lebanon as Merluccius merluccius, L. by Gruvel (1931: 80); subsequently recorded as Merluccius merluccius (Linnaeus 1758) by George et al. (1964: 14); as Merluccius merluccius (Linnaeus 1758) by Mouneimné (1977: 62); as Merluccius merluccius (Linnaeus 1758) by Mouneimné (2002: 92–93); recently by Aguillar et al. (2018: 81). Material in collection: AUBM and USNM.
Distribution. Western Baltic Sea, North Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Marmara, Black Sea, eastern Atlantic: Norway and Iceland south to Mauritania.
Conservation. IUCN: Global (LC: 1 October 2015); Med. (VU: A2bd, 13 November 2007). Capture and threats: FIT, FIB, NIS, unknown. Occurrence: Rare. Low priority for conservation action.