Scombridae

Atlantic mackerel

Scomber scombrus

Wintering deep then nearing shore with spring

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

Streamlined like an arrow for perpetual high-speed schooling, the Atlantic mackerel is a vital pelagic forage fish traversing the temperate coastal waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Its sleek, spindle-shaped frame is adorned along the steel-blue dorsal surface with twenty to thirty dark, sinuous, zebra-like wavy bars that camouflage the fish when viewed from above against undulating water currents. The lower sides and belly gleam in immaculate silvery-white. Unlike many teleosts, it completely lacks a swim bladder, a physical attribute requiring continuous swimming motion to maintain buoyancy and ensure efficient respiratory irrigation through its gills. Distributed abundantly along both shores of the temperate North Atlantic, including the Mediterranean, North Sea, and Gulf of Maine, it migrates extensively between deeper winter continental shelf waters and shallow nearshore summer feeding nurseries down to two hundred and fifty meters depth. Fast schools ram-filter feed on copepods and euphausiids while actively hunting small herrings and sprats. Maximum total length is recorded at sixty centimetres.

Sources: NOAA Fisheries — Atlantic Mackerel, Scomber scombrus