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Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment.
Mackerel species typically have deeply forked tails and vertical "tiger-like" stripes on their backs with an Iridescence green-blue quality. Many are restricted in their distribution ranges and live in separate populations or Fish stocks based on geography. Some stocks Fish migration in large schools along the coast to suitable spawning grounds, where they spawn in fairly shallow waters. After spawning they return the way they came in smaller schools to suitable feeding grounds, often near an area of upwelling. From there they may move offshore into deeper waters and spend the winter in relative inactivity. Other stocks migrate across oceans.
Smaller mackerel are forage fish for larger predators, including larger mackerel and Atlantic cod. Flocks of seabirds, Whale, dolphins, sharks, and schools of larger fish such as tuna and marlin follow mackerel schools and attack them in sophisticated and cooperative ways. Mackerel flesh is high in omega-3 oils and is intensively harvested by humans. In 2009, over 5 million tons were landed by commercial fishermen. Sport fishermen value the fighting abilities of the king mackerel.
| Short mackerel | Rastrelliger brachysoma (Bleeker, 1851) | 2.72 | Vulnerable | ||||||
| Island mackerel | R. faughni (Matsui, 1967) | 3.4 | Vulnerable | ||||||
| Indian mackerel | R. kanagurta (Cuvier, 1816) | 4 years | 3.19 | Least concern | |||||
| Blue mackerel | Scomber australasicus (Cuvier, 1832) | 4.2 | Least concern | ||||||
| Atlantic chub mackerel | S. colias (Gmelin, 1789) | 20 years | 3.91 | Least concern | |||||
| Chub mackerel | S. japonicus (Houttuyn, 1782) | 18 years | 3.09 | Least concern | |||||
| Atlantic mackerel | S. scombrus (Linnaeus, 1758) | 12 years west 18 years east | 3.65 | Least concern |
| Wahoo | Acanthocybium solandri (Georges Cuvier in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1832) | 9 years | 4.4 | Least concern | |||||
| Shark mackerel | Grammatorcynus bicarinatus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825) | 4.5 | Least concern | ||||||
| Double-lined mackerel | G. bilineatus (Rüppell, 1836) | 4.18 | Least concern | ||||||
| Serra Spanish mackerel | Scomberomorus brasiliensis (Collette, Russo & Zavala-Camin, 1978) | 3.31 | Least concern | ||||||
| King mackerel | S. cavalla (Cuvier, 1829) | 14 years | 4.5 | Least concern | |||||
| Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel | S. commerson (Lacepède, 1800) | 4.5 | Near threatened | ||||||
| Monterrey Spanish mackerel | S. concolor (Lockington, 1879) | 4.24 | Near threatened | ||||||
| Indo-Pacific king mackerel | S. guttatus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | 16 years | 4.28 | Data deficient | |||||
| Korean mackerel | S. koreanus (Kishinouye, 1915) | 4.2 | Least concern | ||||||
| Streaked Spanish mackerel | S. lineolatus (Cuvier, 1829) | 4.5 | Least concern | ||||||
| Atlantic Spanish mackerel | S. maculatus (Mitchill, 1815) | 5 years | 4.5 | Least concern | |||||
| Papuan seerfish | S. multiradiatus Munro, 1964 | 4.0 | Least concern | ||||||
| Australian spotted mackerel | S. munroi (Collette & Russo, 1980) | 4.3 | Near threatened | ||||||
| Japanese Spanish mackerel | S. niphonius (Cuvier, 1832) | 4.5 | Near threatened | ||||||
| Queen mackerel | S. plurilineatus Fourmanoir, 1966 | 4.2 | Data deficient | ||||||
| Queensland school mackerel | S. queenslandicus (Munro, 1943) | 10 years | 4.5 | Least concern | |||||
| Cero mackerel | S. regalis (Bloch, 1793) | 4.5 | Least concern | ||||||
| Broadbarred king mackerel | S. semifasciatus (Macleay, 1883) | 10 years | 4.5 | Least concern | |||||
| Pacific sierra | S. sierra (Cuvier, 1832) | 4.5 | Least concern | ||||||
| Chinese mackerel | S. sinensis (Cuvier, 1832) | 4.5 | Near threatened | ||||||
| West African Spanish mackerel | S. tritor (Cuvier, 1832) | 4.26 | Least concern |
| Scombridae Gasterochisma | Butterfly mackerel | Gasterochisma melampus Richardson, 1845 | 4.4 | Least concern | ||||||
| Carangidae Jack mackerel | Mackerel scad | Decapterus macarellus (Culiver, 1833) | 4.0 | Least concern | ||||||
| Atlantic horse mackerel | Trachurus trachurus (Linnaeus, 1758) | 3.64 | Vulnerable | |||||||
| Blue jack mackerel | T. picturatus (Bowdich, 1825) | 18 years | 3.32 | Least concern | ||||||
| Cape horse mackerel | T. capensis (Castelnau, 1861) | 3.47 | Least concern | |||||||
| Chilean jack mackerel | T. murphyi (Nichols, 1920) | 16 years | 3.49 | Data deficient | ||||||
| Cunene horse mackerel | T. trecae (Cadenat, 1950) | 3.49 | Least concern | |||||||
| Greenback horse mackerel | T. declivis (Jenyns, 1841) | 25 years | 3.93 | Least concern | ||||||
| Japanese horse mackerel | T. japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844) | 12 years | 3.4 | Near threatened | ||||||
| Mediterranean horse mackerel | T. mediterraneus (Steindachner, 1868) | 3.59 | Least concern | |||||||
| Pacific jack mackerel | T. symmetricus (Ayres, 1855) | 30 years | 3.56 | Least concern | ||||||
| Yellowtail horse mackerel | T. novaezelandiae (Richardson, 1843) | 25 years | 4.5 | Least concern | ||||||
| Gempylidae Snake mackerel | Black snake mackerel | Nealotus tripes (Johnson, 1865) | 4.2 | Least concern | ||||||
| Blacksail snake mackerel | Thyrsitoides marleyi (Fowler, 1929) | 4.19 | Not assessed | |||||||
| Snake mackerel | Gempylus serpens (Cuvier, 1829) | 4.35 | Least concern | |||||||
| Violet snake mackerel | Nesiarchus nasutus (Johnson, 1862) | 4.33 | Least concern | |||||||
| White snake mackerel | Thyrsitops lepidopoides (Cuvier, 1832) | 3.86 | Not assessed | |||||||
| Hexagrammidae | Okhotsk atka mackerel | Pleurogrammus azonus (Jordan & Metz, 1913) | 12 years | 3.58 | Not assessed | |||||
| Atka mackerel | P. monopterygius (Pallas, 1810) | 14 years | 3.33 | Not assessed |
The term "mackerel" is also used as a modifier in the common names of other fish, sometimes indicating the fish has vertical stripes similar to a scombroid mackerel:
By extension, the term is applied also to other species such as the mackerel tabby cat, and to inanimate objects such as the altocumulus mackerel sky cloud formation.
The type species for scombroid mackerels is the Atlantic mackerel, Scomber scombrus. These fish are iridescence blue-green above with a silvery underbelly and near-vertical wavy black stripes running along their upper bodies.
The prominent stripes on the back of mackerels seemingly are there to provide camouflage against broken backgrounds. That is not the case, though, because mackerel live in midwater pelagic environments which have no background. However, fish have an optokinetic reflex in their visual systems that can be sensitive to moving stripes. For fish to school efficiently, they need feedback mechanisms that help them align themselves with adjacent fish, and match their speed. The stripes on neighbouring fish provide "schooling marks", which signal changes in relative position. The lateral line also helps with orderly schooling.
A layer of thin, reflecting platelets is seen on some of the mackerel stripes. In 1998, E J Denton and D M Rowe argued that these platelets transmit additional information to other fish about how a given fish moves. As the orientation of the fish changes relative to another fish, the amount of light reflected to the second fish by this layer also changes. This sensitivity to orientation gives the mackerel "considerable advantages in being able to react quickly while schooling and feeding."
Mackerel range in size from small forage fish to larger game fish. Coastal mackerel tend to be small. The king mackerel is an example of a larger mackerel. Most fish are Ectothermic, but exceptions exist. Certain species of fish maintain elevated body temperatures. Warm-blooded are all in the suborder Scombroidei and include the butterfly mackerel, a species of primitive mackerel.
Mackerel are strong swimmers. Known in the latin family as "punctualis piscis" which translates to "punctual fish." This is due to its punctuality of migration during mating season as it moves from warm to cold waters. Atlantic mackerel can swim at a sustained speed of 0.98 m/sec with a burst speed of 5.5 m/sec, while chub mackerel can swim at a sustained speed of 0.92 m/sec with a burst speed of 2.25 m/sec. The Wahoo ( Acanthocybium solandri) has been known to reach speeds of up to .
In combination, these fish (Scombroids) can be found worldwide in all oceans of the world, excluding the Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean. However, the Atlantic chub mackerel has been spotted near Greenland in the Arctic Ocean on rare occasions as Climate change makes the Arctic more habitable for them.
Some mackerel species, especially Pelagic fish and Filter feeder one such as chub mackerel, migrate vertically, staying at certain depths depending on the time of day and food availability.
For example, adult snake mackerel, conduct a diel vertical migration, staying in deeper water during the day and rising to the surface at night to feed. The young and juveniles also migrate vertically, but in the opposite direction, staying near the surface during the day and moving deeper at night.
Off Madagascar, Spinner shark follow migrating schools of mackerel. Bryde's whales feed on mackerel when they can find them. They use several feeding methods, including Ram feeding, Lunge feeding, and .
The remaining catch of scombroid mackerels is divided equally between the Atlantic mackerel and all other scombroid mackerels. Just these two species (Chub mackerel and Atlantic mackerel) account for about 75% of the total catch of scombroid mackerels.
Chilean jack mackerel are the most commonly fished non-scombroid mackerel, fished as heavily as chub mackerel. The species has been Overfishing, and its fishery may now be in danger of collapsing.
Smaller mackerel behave like , and are captured in similar ways. Fish species like these, which school near the surface, can be caught efficiently by purse seining. Huge purse-seine vessels use spotter planes to locate the schooling fish. Then they close in using sophisticated sonar to track the shape of the school, which is then encircled with fast auxiliary boats that deploy purse seines as they speed around the school.
Suitably designed trollers can also catch mackerels effectively when they swim near the surface. Trollers typically have several long booms which they lift and drop with "topping lifts". They haul their lines with electric or hydraulic reels. Fish aggregating devices are also used to target mackerel.
The Southeast US region spans the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the US Southeast Atlantic. Overfishing of king mackerel and Spanish mackerel occurred in the 1980s. Regulations were introduced to restrict the size, fishing locations, and bag limits for recreational fishers and commercial fishers. were banned in waters off Florida. By 2001, the mackerel stocks had recovered.
Mackerel preservation is not simple. Before the 19th-century development of canning and the widespread availability of refrigeration, salting and smoking were the principal preservation methods available. Historically in England, this fish was not preserved, but was consumed only in its fresh form. However, spoilage was common, leading the authors of The Cambridge Economic History of Europe to remark: "There are more references to stinking mackerel in English literature than to any other fish!" In France, mackerel was traditionally pickled with large amounts of salt, which allowed it to be sold widely across the country.
For many years mackerel was regarded as 'unclean' in the UK and other places due to folklore which suggested that the fish fed on the corpses of dead sailors. A 1976 survey of housewives in Britain undertaken by the White Fish Authority indicated a reluctance to departing from buying the traditional staples of cod, haddock or salmon. Less than 10% of the survey's 1,931 respondents had ever bought mackerel, and only 3% did so regularly. As a result of this trend, many UK during the 1970s did not display or even stock mackerel.
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