Description: Body elongate, moderately deep, and compressed, with similar dorsal and ventral profiles. Eyes relatively small; relatively long and pointed snout. Lips papillose; upper jaw protruding beyond lower jaw in large adults. Two dorsal fins close together. Pale greenish or blue above, silvery below; yellow stripe along the sides (wider posteriorly) and at base of dorsal and anal fins; caudal and second dorsal fin yellow. Black spot on the posterodorsal margin of the opercle.
Global Distribution: Atlantic (including the Mediterranean), Indian and Pacific oceans, in coastal waters. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length 122 cm (total length); common length 40.0 cm (TL); maximum published weight 18.1 kg.
Behavioural ecology: Forms schools of like-sized individuals. Very active, generally swimming a few meters above the bottom. Juveniles may associate with jellyfish.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 10 - 238 m, usually 10 - 25 m.
Habitat: Benthopelagic; reef-associated. Juveniles usually inhabit estuaries, bays and shallow continental or insular shelf waters, while adults form schools near the sea bed on the shelf. Schools are found at the surface, in mid-water and on the bottom and are often associated with reefs and rough bottom.
Feeding habits: Feeds on plankton by ram-filtering and suction feeding, on bottom invertebrates, and small fishes.
Trophic level: FishBase: 3.9
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Commercial species. Also gamefish.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Least concern.
Nutritional information & food safety:
Proximate composition per 100 g:
energy value 114.3 kcal (5.7% DRV)
protein 24.66 g (49.3% DRV)
fat 1.00 g (1.4% DRV)
of which saturates 0.338 g (1.7% DRV)
omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids 0.449 g
REFERENCES
Brito A., Pascual P.J., Falcón J.M., Sancho A., González G. (2002). Peces de las islas Canarias. Catálogo comentado e ilustrado. Francisco Lemos Editor, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 418 pp.
Carpenter K.E., ed. (2002). The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5., Rome.
González J., Hernández C., Marrero P., Rapp E. (2000). Peces de Canarias: GuÃa Submarina (5th edition). Francisco Lemus Editor, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canarias, Spain, 235 pp.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
McEachran J.D., Fechhelm J.D. (2006). Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. Vol. 2. Scorpaeniformes to Tetraodontiformes. University of Texas Press, Texas, USA, 1008 pp.
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
Nogueira N., Cordeiro N., Aveiro M.J. (2012). Chemical composition, fatty acids profile and cholesterol content of commercialized marine fishes captured in Northeastern Atlantic. Journal of Fisheries Sciences, 7(3): 271-286.
