Common names: mackerel (English), caballa (Espanol), macarela (Espanol)
 
Scomber japonicus Houttuyn, 1782


Pacific chub mackerel,     Chub mackerel


Body elongate, rounded; fatty eyelid covering nearly all of eye; teeth at front and sides of roof of mouth; 2 well separated dorsal fins; first dorsal with IX-X spines, distance between the 2 dorsals less than length of base of first dorsal fin; 5 finlets after second dorsal and anal fins; pectoral fins high; tail deeply forked; two small keels on each side of the slender tail base; lateral line simple; entire body covered with small scales.



Silver; back with blackish, oblique wavy lines; no spotted lines on belly.


Size: attains 64 cm.

Habitat: epipelagic, coastal; occurs in schools and undergoes extensive summer migrations into temperate regions.

Depth: 0- 300 m.

Indo-Pacific; mainly in subtropical and temperate seas; in the eastern Pacific it ranges from Alaska to Chile and most of the offshore islands