species| Mackerel |
 MACKEREL | First dorsal spines 11-13; space between posterior end of first dorsal fin groove and origin of second dorsal fin clearly greater than groove, approximately 1.5 times as long. Swimbladder absent. Vertebrae 3 + 18, first haemal spine anterior to first haemal spine anterior to first tinter-haemal process. SIZE | Commonly to 35-46 cm fork length; exceptional individuals may reach 1.8 kilos in weight. DEPTH | Epipelagic or mesodemersal in depths to 200-250 meters. Schooling, sometimes in enormous schools. COLOUR | Blueish at the back. Around 30-35 dark blue, almost black cross-stribes at the back. Lighter between the stribes. Belly unmarked. FOOD | Adults eat wast quantities of pelagic crustaceans, chiefly copepods and euphausiids, but also crab larve, ampihipods, arrow worms, and young clupeoid fish. REPRODUCTION | Spawn in shallow water over the continental shelf in spring and early summer. Eggs and larvae planktonic. WHERE TO CATCH IT | A north Atlantic species found throughout the area from Norway to the Azores and Morocco, the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Present in the western Baltic Sea. See also the map below. |
