Decapterus macarellus, Mackerel scad : fisheries, gamefish, bait

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Decapterus macarellus (Cuvier, 1833)

Mackerel scad
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Decapterus macarellus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Carangiformes (Jacks) > Carangidae (Jacks and pompanos) > Caranginae
Etymology: Decapterus: Greek, deka = ten + Greek, pteron = wing, fin (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Cuvier.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-oceanic; depth range 0 - 400 m (Ref. 58302), usually 40 - 200 m (Ref. 3197). Subtropical; 54°N - 46°S, 180°W - 180°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Circumglobal. Western Atlantic: Nova Scotia, Canada and Bermuda to approximately Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Ref. 57756). Appears to be absent from the Gulf of Mexico (Ref. 9626). Eastern Atlantic: St. Helena, Ascension, Cape Verde, and Gulf of Guinea (Ref. 7097); Azores and Madeira (Ref. 4233). Indian Ocean: Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Seychelles, Mascarenes, South Africa, and Sri Lanka (Ref. 3287). Eastern Pacific: Gulf of California and Revillagigedo Island to Ecuador (Ref. 9283).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 46.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 55763); common length : 30.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 55763)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 9; Dorsal soft rays (total): 31-37; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 27 - 31; Vertebrae: 24. This species is distinguished by the following characters: oral valve (membrane) at symphysis of upper jaw conspicuously white in adults; posterior end of upper jaw straight above, moderately rounded and noticeably slanted anteroventrally; both jaws without teeth; shoulder girdle (cleithrum) margin with 2 small papillae, the lower papilla larger; terminal dorsal- and anal-fin rays each consisting of a widely detached finlet; pectoral fins short (58 to 72% of head length), tip of appressed fins falling considerably short of a vertical line from second dorsal-fin origin; lateral line scales, curved 58-75 and without scutes, straight 18-39 with 24-40 scutes, the total scales and scutes in lateral line (excluding scales on caudal fin) 110 to 138; interorbital scales usually extending to above front margin of the pupil. Colour in life bluish green and slivery below; small black blotch on margin of opercle near upper edge; caudal fin yellow-green and dorsal fin lobe sometimes dark distally; anal and pelvic fins pale to whitish (Ref. 9894, 11228).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Adults prefer clear oceanic waters, frequently around islands (Ref. 5217). Sometimes they are found near the surface, but generally caught between 40 and 200 m depth (Ref. 9283). Pelagic (Ref. 58302). Usually seen as fast moving schools along the reef edges near deep water (Ref. 48635, 26235). They feed mainly on zooplankton (Ref. 9283). Eggs are pelagic (Ref. 4233). Caught with purse seines and trawls (Ref. 9894). Marketed fresh and salted or dried (Ref. 9283).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Smith-Vaniz, William F. | Collaborators

Smith-Vaniz, W.F., 1995. Carangidae. Jureles, pámpanos, cojinúas, zapateros, cocineros, casabes, macarelas, chicharros, jorobados, medregales, pez pilota. p. 940-986. In W. Fischer, F. Krupp, W. Schneider, C. Sommer, K.E. Carpenter and V. Niem (eds.) Guia FAO para Identification de Especies para lo Fines de la Pesca. Pacifico Centro-Oriental. 3 Vols. FAO, Rome. (Ref. 9283)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 20 August 2012

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Reports of ciguatera poisoning (Ref. 26235)





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes; bait: usually
FAO - Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 13 - 27.9, mean 21.9 °C (based on 2100 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5010   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01349 (0.00832 - 0.02186), b=2.99 (2.85 - 3.13), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.0   ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 3.9 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 2 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=0.8).
Prior r = 1.08, 95% CL = 0.71 - 1.62, Based on 3 stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (23 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 472 [148, 1,769] mg/100g; Iron = 7.26 [2.38, 19.02] mg/100g; Protein = 21.3 [19.6, 23.0] %; Omega3 = 0.654 [0.270, 1.630] g/100g; Selenium = 84.1 [20.5, 289.9] μg/100g; VitaminA = 2.35 [0.40, 13.27] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.975 [0.518, 1.979] mg/100g (wet weight);