Mackerel

Fact File:

Common Name(s):
Mackerel or Atlantic Mackerel

Scientific Name:
Scomber scombrus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Usual Size:
To 50cm although common to 30cm

UK Record Weights from rod/line:

Shore:5lb 11oz 14dr

Boat:6lb 2oz 7dr

MAFF Minimum Size: Shore:30cms Boat:30cms

Identification:
Mackerel (Torpedo) Shaped. The back markings are black oblique to near vertical lines, with hardly any undulating and the belly area is unmarked. No swim bladder. 11/13 dorsal spines.

Breeding:
Egg dispersal. In the Eastern Atlantic spawning takes place from May to June off the Southern English coasts. The females are mature at 2/3 years old which equates to a size of approximately 34cm. Between 200/450,000 eggs are laid in each spawning season.

Habitat:
Most abundant in cold and temperate shelf waters. Over winter in deep waters and then migrate shoreward in the spring when the water temperatures reach between 11/14ºC. It would appear that our Eastern Atlantic population has no inter-mix with the Western Atlantic populations.

Food:
Cannibalistic, and small fry of numerous species

Range:
For the Eastern Atlantic from Iceland south to the north coast of Africa.

Additional Notes:

REFERENCES: FAO Species Catalogue 2 - Scombrids of The World - Collette/Nauen

Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean - Whitehead, Bauchot, Hureau, Nielsen, Tortonese

Key to the Fishes of Northern Europe - Wheeler


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