Relevant synonyms None Misidentification None Meristic formula D1, XV-XVIII; D2, 15-20+8-11 finlets;A, II+16-21+8-11 finlets; P, 21-24; V, I+5  photo : David Darom

SHORT DESCRIPTION Body elongated and compressed. Two dorsal fins narrowly separated. First dorsal fin lower than second dorsal fin. Second dorsal fin origin slightly in front of anal fin origin. Caudal fin forked (in small specimens) to lunate with two keels on its base and a median keel on caudal peduncle. Pectoral fin pointed. Large pointed head. Large mouth. Maxilla extends back beyond posterior of eye margin. Large triangular and compressed teeth in jaws and smaller teeth on the palatine and vomer. Lateral line bent downwards under the middle of second dorsal fin. Entire body covered with small scales. color : back dark silvery grey with light grey belly. Numerous dark vertical and wavy bars, with spots on flanks. size : common 25-150 cm (max. 200 cm). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Rastrelliger and Scomber spp.: five dorsal and anal finlets. Other scombrids: first dorsal fin higher than second dorsal fin; jaws with slender teeth (compressed in S. commerson). BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Schooling species. Feeds on small schooling fishes, such as clupeids, engraulids and carangids. Young fish feeds also on benthic species. Reaches sexual maturity at 65 cm. Eggs and larvae planktonic. habitat : pelagic along coastal waters.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Palestine, 1935. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : wide Indo-Pacific. Red Sea, eastern Africa to Capetown. Indian Ocean to Japan, western and eastern Australia and Fiji. Mediterranean : recorded first in Palestine, as Scomberomorus sp. (Hornell, 1935) ; successively recorded from Lebanon (George and Athanassiou, 1965), Turkey [known from 1981, Gucu et al. (1994)], Egypt (El Sayed, 1994) and Dodecanese Islands (Buhan et al., 1997). More recently recorded in Tunisia (Ben Souissi et al., 2006), and along the coasts of eastern Libya. ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Very common. speculated reasons for success : MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via the Suez Canal. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS Since the 1980s, this species has become very common in the eastern Levant, contributing greatly to purse seine and trammel net fishery. Elsewhere, commercially important throughout its range.

KEY REFERENCES Collette B.B., 1970. Rastrelliger kanagurta, another Red Sea immigrant into the Mediterranean Sea, with a key to the Mediterranean species of Scombridae. Bulletin of Sea Fisheries Research Station, Haifa, 53: 3-6. Golani D. and Ben-Tuvia A., 1995. Lessepsian migration and the Mediterranean fisheries of Israel. In: Armantrout, N.B. (ed.). Conditions of the World's Aquatic Habits. Proceedings of the World Fisheries Congress, Theme 1, pp. 279-289, Oxford & IBH Pub. Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. Hornell J., 1935. Report on the Fisheries of Palestine. Government of Palestine. Crown Agent for the Colonies, London. 106 pp. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: November 2013 ©ciesm 2002