Jackfish
| Jackfish | ||||||||||||
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Jackfish ( Scomberesox saurus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Scomberesox saurus | ||||||||||||
| ( Walbaum , 1792) |
The jackfish ( Scomberesox saurus ) is a very slender, predatory sea fish that lives in schools near the surface of the water.
features
It becomes a maximum of half a meter long, but usually remains at a length of 30 centimeters. The body is long and slender, the jaw elongated like a beak. The dorsal and anal fins are located far back on the body and face each other symmetrically. Between them and the forked caudal fin are 5 to 7 small rafts.
Subspecies and distribution
There are two subspecies,
- the nominate form , the Atlantic mackerel ( Scomberesox saurus saurus ) (whale tree, 1792), which occurs in the north-eastern Atlantic from Iceland and Norway via the British Isles to the North and western Baltic Sea and the coast of Morocco and the Mediterranean . He lives in the northwestern Atlantic from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to North Carolina and Bermuda .
- Scomberesox saurus scombroides (Richardson, 1843), which occurs in the southern Atlantic, Indian and Pacific between 30 ° and 40 ° south latitude, but on the east coast of Africa and South America goes far north to over the equator .
Way of life
The jackfish live in schools near the sea surface above a depth of 30 meters. The fish undertake long migrations. S. s. saurus moves far north in summer and can also reach the Barents Sea . Mackerel bake feed on zooplankton (small crustaceans , including krill ) and on small fish, fish larvae and fish eggs. On the run from their predators, especially dolphins , porpoises , boobies , tuna , spearfish , blue fish and cod, they jump far out of the water. Jackfish spawn in the open ocean. The eggs have filaments and a diameter of 2 mm. The hatching larvae are still without an elongated beak jaw. This only grows in the development of the juvenile fish.
use
Mackerel fish are caught with drift nets and fishing rods. Their economic importance is low.
literature
- Bent J. Muus, Jørgen G. Nielsen: The marine fish of Europe in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Atlantic. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07804-3 .
