Description: color
of back iridescent bluish green; sides silvery, streamlined
body with tapered head; no black pigment on front of dorsal
fin; lateral line starts high and drops sharply below the second
dorsal fin; young fish often have yellow spots like those of
the Spanish mackerel.
Similar Fish:
cero, S. regalis; Spanish mackerel, S. maculatus.
Where found:
NEARSHORE and OFFSHORE, occasionally taken from piers running
into deep water.
Size: common
to 20 pounds.
*Florida Record:
90 lbs.
Remarks: schooling
fish that migrates fom south Florida waters in winter to more
northerly waters in spring; Gulf population thought to be
separate from Atlantic population, with considerable mixing
in winter from Cape Canaveral past Key West; spawns in midsummer
OFFSHORE; feeds on small fish and squid.
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