Pacific mackerel
| Blue mackerel | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Scombridae |
| Tribe: | Scombrini |
| Genus: | Scomber |
| Species: | S. australasicus |
| Binomial name | |
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Scomber australasicus Cuvier, 1832 |
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The blue mackerel, Japanese mackerel, Pacific mackerel, slimy mackerel, or spotted chub mackerel (Scomber australasicus) is a fish of the family Scombridae, found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific Ocean from Japan south to Australia and New Zealand, in the eastern Pacific (Hawaii and Socorro Island, Mexico), and the Indo-West Pacific: the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf of Aden, in surface waters down to 200 m (660 ft). In Japanese, it is known as goma saba (胡麻鯖 sesame mackerel). Its length is between 30 and 65 cm (12 and 25.5 in), and weighs a little over 1 kilogram (2.2 lb).
Blue mackerel are often mistaken for chub mackerel. In fact, blue mackerel were believed to be a subspecies of chub mackerel until the late 1980s. Though they are both in the same genus (Scomber), blue mackerel set themselves apart by differing structural genes than those of the chub mackerel. Other, more obvious, characteristics set these two apart, like the longer anal spine of the blue mackerel, and the amount of the first dorsal spines. Mackerels have a round body that narrows into the tail after the second dorsal fin, similar to a tuna fish. The blue mackerel is known as a voracious and indiscriminate feeder, and they devour microscopic plankton and krill, live anchovy, engulf dead cut bait, and strike readily on lures and other flies. When in a school and in a feeding frenzy, they will strike at nonfood items such as cigarette butts and even bare hooks. While relatively small in size, pound for pound, mackerel score high for their fighting ability. Blue mackerel are carnivores, eating smaller fish in their same region of the upper layer of the ocean, the pelagic zone. Due to their eating habits and their diurnal lifestyles, blue mackerel have adapted a higher sensitivity in their retinas, allowing better eyesight even during the night to catch their prey. Another adaptation of blue mackerels is their eye size. They typically have larger eyes than herbivores in their same region.
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Wikipedia