Scombridae

Skipjack tuna

Katsuwonus pelamis

Schools leaping and foaming beside whales

• Blue
• Gray
• Silver
• Tropical
• Globally widespread
• Marine fish
• Fusiform
• Large
• Tropical fish

Built like a living projectile for perpetual high-speed open-sea hunting, the skipjack tuna is one of the most prolific and energetically demanding pelagic wanderers on Earth. Its robust, streamlined fusiform torso displays a dark metallic purplish-blue dorsal surface that transitions down to shining silvery sides marked with four to six dark, unbroken longitudinal horizontal stripes running towards the tail. It completely lacks a swim bladder, a physiological trait demanding continuous forward propulsion to generate hydrodynamic lift and irrigate its gills. Ranging circumglobally across tropical and warm temperate seas, schools roam nearshore currents, drop-offs, and surface confluences down to two hundred and sixty meters depth. Often associating with whale sharks, dolphins, and drifting flotsam, vast schools engage in frenzied cooperative feeding on anchovies, sardines, lanternfishes, squid, and euphausiids. Growth is swift, with individuals reaching sexual maturity within one to two years and spawning opportunistically throughout the year in warm equatorial basins. The recorded maximum total length is one hundred and eight centimetres.

Sources: NOAA Fisheries — Pacific Skipjack Tuna