You can sponsor this page

Decapterus macarellus (Cuvier, 1833)

Mackerel scad
Add your observation in Fish Watcher
Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Decapterus macarellus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
Upload your photos and videos
Pictures | Videos | Google image

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 Identification keys | 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: Version 2024-2)

  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

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
References
References

Tools

Special reports

Download XML

Internet sources

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=0.01202 (0.00782 - 0.01848), b=2.98 (2.85 - 3.11), 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 data-limited 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);