Description: A large carnivorous fish. Body elongate, moderately shallow, and slightly compressed, with upper profile more convex than lower. Upper jaw very broad posteriorly. Caudal peduncle grooves present. Brown or olivaceous to bluish green above, sides and belly lighter. Dark nuchal band persisting in adults, extending from eye to first dorsal fin origin. Juveniles present 6 dark bands.
Behavioural ecology: They form small groups. Powerful, active swimmers.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 5 - 245 m, usually 30 - 35 m.
Habitat: Reef-associated. Young often seen around floating objects. Adults are benthopelagic in outer reef slopes and offshore banks to 160 m or more. Mainly on abrupt rocky bottoms.
Feeding habits: Feeds mainly on fishes (sardines, bogues, etc), but also on invertebrates.
Trophic level: FishBase: 4.5
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Commercial species. Also gamefish. Commercially it is not distinguished from other Seriola spp.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Least concern.
Nutritional information & food safety: Health warning: reports of ciguatera poisoning in some areas.
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.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Morato T., Afonso P., Lourinho P., Barreiros J.P., Santos R.S., Nash R.D.M. (2001). Length–weight relationships for 21 coastal fish species of the Azores, north-eastern Atlantic. Fisheries Research, 50(3): 297-302.
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.
