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.
* The Florida records
quoted are from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's
printed publication, Fishing
Lines and are not necessarily the most current ones. The records are
provided as only as a benchmark.
