Elagatis
| Elagatis bipinnulata | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Carangidae |
| Genus: | Elagatis |
| Species: | E. bipinnulata |
| Binomial name | |
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Elagatis bipinnulata (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825) |
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| Approximate range of the rainbow runner | |
| Synonyms | |
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The rainbow runner (Elagatis bipinnulata), also known as the rainbow yellowtail, Spanish jack and Hawaiian salmon, is a common species of pelagic marine fish of the jack family, Carangidae. The species is widespread throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the world, inhabiting both coastal as well as far offshore areas. The species is the only member of the genus Elagatis, which was created 15 years after its initial description, and is closely related to the amberjacks. The rainbow runner is easily distinguished by its body shape, and the brilliant colouration which gives the fish its name. It is a fast swimming predator, taking small fish, cephalopods and a wide variety of planktonic crustaceans. The species reaches sexual maturity at around 60 cm (24 in), and spawning takes place at different times, with some populations spawning year round, while others only spawn at certain times of the year. The species is a well known game fish, taken by a variety of fishing methods and is a well rated table fish. Large amounts of the species are taken as bycatch in tuna and shark fishing operations and marketed.
The rainbow runner is the only species in the monotypic genus Elagatis, which is one of thirty genera in the jack family, Carangidae. The Carangidae are Perciform fishes in the suborder Percoidei. The species was first scientifically described in 1825 by French zoologists Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard based on the type specimen collected from the Indian Ocean, somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. They named the species Seriola bipinnulata, believing the species was related to the amberjacks. This was later revised to the genus Seriolichthys by Bleeker before it was concluded the species warranted a new genus. The genus Micropteryx was initially created, but was already in use in the Lepidoptera. In 1840, Frederick Debell Bennett created the genus Elagatis, taken from a name published in a whaling voyage memoir, which he used in combination with the species name of bipinnulatus, which was deemed to be incorrect as the genus name is feminine and the original spelling of bipinnulata was reinstated. Phylogenetically, the species is most closely related to the amberjack genus, Seriola, being the most basal member identified of the carangid subfamily Naucratini. This has been determined by the sequencing of the genome, as well as older morphological studies.
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