Red hake are distributed from the
Gulf of St. Lawrence to
North Carolina. They are most abundant from the western
Gulf of Maine to southern
New England. Red hake prefer water temperatures between 5 and 12 °C, causing them to migrate seasonally. Throughout the spring and summer, they migrate into more shallow waters to spawn. During winter, they tend to move to deeper waters offshore in the Gulf of Maine and along southern New England and Georges Bank all the way to wrecks off the coast of New Jersey. Red hake spawn from May until November. ==Appearance==