Greater Amberjack, scientific name Seriola dumerili is the biggest of the jacks, crucial amberjack to anglers, and, like most of its brethren, a robust fighter. It is excessive on the list of tropical marine fish suspected of inflicting ciguatera poisoning, though this drawback could also be remoted to sure areas.
Greater Amberjack Identification
This fish is greenish-blue to virtually purple or brown above the lateral line and silver beneath the lateral line. A darkish olive-brown diagonal stripe extends from the mouth throughout each eye in regards to the first dorsal fin. A broad amber stripe runs horizontally alongside the sides. The fins may have a yellow solid.
The greater amberjack has brief fore dorsal fins, a bluntly pointed head, and no indifferent finlets. The amber stripe typically causes anglers to confuse the greater amberjack with the yellowtail, however, it may be distinguished by the 11 to 16 developed gill rakers on the decrease limb of the first branchial arch; the yellowtail has 21 to 28-gill rakers.
Other Names
amberjack, jack, amberfish, jackhammer, horse-eye bonito, horse-eye jack, Allied kingfish (Australia); French: poisson limon, sériole couronnée; Hawaiian: kahala; Japanese: kanpachi; Spanish: coronado, pez de limón, serviola.
Greater Amberjack Description
The greater amberjack is a big predatory fish that has a body colouring that varies from brownish to bluish-grey on the dorsal surfaces contrasting with the silver-white underparts.
There is a diagonal sooty stripe that begins on the snout and runs alongside the centre of the back dorsal fin, one other darkish stripe runs from the higher jaw, by means of the attention to in entrance of the first dorsal fin.
Some fishes might present a light yellow to reddish-brown stripe alongside the flanks. The fins are dusky in colour. The second dorsal and anal fins have a low anterior lobe. Small juveniles have clear fins[3] and a sequence of 5 vertical bands alongside the body and a sixth band on the caudal peduncle.
The form of the body is elongated and fusiform and it’s of average depth, laterally compressed and has an overlaying of small cycloid scales.
The largest fish have been measured at 190 centimetres (75 in) in the whole size however the more frequent size discovered is 100 centimetres (39 in), whereas the biggest revealed weight is 80.6 kilograms (178 lb).
Greater Amberjack Distribution
The greater amberjack has a virtually circum-global distribution within the subtropical and tropical seas and oceans of the world. In the Indian Ocean, it’s discovered alongside the African coast from South Africa east by means of the Persian Gulf to Western Australia and southern Japan, reaching the Hawaiian Islands and Micronesia within the Pacific Ocean.
It reaches as far south as Tasmania off Australia. In the western Atlantic Ocean this species is discovered around Bermuda and on the North American coast as far north as Nova Scotia extending south so far as Brazil, together with the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
In the eastern Atlantic Ocean it has been recorded as a vagrant as far north because the British Isles and is discovered off within the Bay of Biscay south to Morocco and within the Mediterranean Sea. It might happen alongside the west African coast however right here confusion with the same Seriola carpenteri makes the place unclear.
Greater Amberjack Habitat
The greater amberjack is discovered as solitary people or in small to moderate-sized colleges that are epibenthic and pelagic and happen within the vicinity of reefs, deep offshore caves, drop-offs, rocky outcrops and deep seaward reefs.
They will typically enter coastal bays whereas the juveniles are sometimes recorded fairly far effectively out to sea the place they shelter amongst floating algae, resembling Sargassum and particles.
It can be discovered over wrecks. Smaller people, lower than Three kilograms (6.6 lb), maybe caught in shallow water whereas the bigger fish choose deeper water, usually between 18–72 metres (59–236 ft) and have been recorded at depths of 360 metres (1,180 ft).
Greater Amberjack Diet
Greater amberjacks are opportunistic predators when they’re adults which prey on benthic and pelagic fishes in addition to cephalopods and crustaceans. Common fish prey species embody the bigeye scad (Selar crumenophthalmus) and sardines (Sardinella aurita and Sardina pilchardus). The juvenile fish feed on plankton together with the larvae of decapods and different small invertebrates.
The juveniles change to feeding on bigger prey resembling bigger benthic and nektonic organisms once they attain a size of 8–12 centimetres (3.1–4.7 in) and as soon as they’ve grown bigger than 12 centimetres (4.7 in.
They limit their prey option to animals that swim on or over the substrate and once they attain 20 centimetres (7.9 in) they’re primarily piscivorous and it’s at this measurement that they transfer from open waters to more coastal areas.
Greater Amberjack Size
Averaging roughly 15 kilos in weight and generally ranging as much as 40 kilos, the greater amberjack typically weighs more than 50 kilos and has been reported to exceed 170 kilos. The all-tackle report is 155 kilos, 10 ounces. It can attain a size of more than 5 toes.
Greater Amberjack world record
156 pound, 13-ounce fish caught in 2010 in Japan
Life history/Behavior
The greater amberjack typically happens in colleges, however, it isn’t primarily a schooling fish and infrequently stays solitary. Migrations seem linked to spawning behaviour, which within the Atlantic happens from March by means of June.
Evidence means that spawning might happen in offshore oceanic waters, however, few studies have been performed, though spawning fish are recognized to congregate over reefs and wrecks.
Greater Amberjack Breeding
Seriola dumerli is gonochoric, which means that the women and men are separate and decided at the beginning, and there’s no sexual dimorphism apart from size.
The sexes start to distinguish at around 4-5 months of age once they attain a size of 24–26 centimetres (9.4–10.2 in) and, In the Mediterranean, they attain sexual maturity at, respectively, Four and 5 years of age once they attain a size of about 109 and 113 centimetres (43 and 44 in) in size in women and men.
In western Atlantic populations, the males are mature after 3 years and 80 centimetres (31 in) and the females after Four years of age and attaining 83 centimetres (33 in).
This species has been noticed to indicate pair courtship off Belize the place there have been colleges numbering around 120 people and pairing primarily occurred throughout when there was the moon was both full or waning and between the months of February and October. They are sexually dimorphic with the females noticeably bigger than the males.
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Half of the males are sexually mature at 64.6 centimetres (25.4 in) fork size for males half of the females are sexually mature on attaining 73.3 centimetres (28.9 in) fork size. This is a highly fecund fish and a single feminine might lay 18 to 59 million eggs in a single spawning season.
Off the coast of Florida spawning peaks in April and May and every feminine is estimated to spawn as soon as each 4 to 5 days through the spawning season, lasting around 60 days.
In the Mediterranean spawning takes place in June and July Spawning happens over such habitats as reefs and shipwrecks, demonstrated by the abundance of juveniles in these habitats in the summertime following the spring spawning within the western Atlantic.
The eggs are 1.9 millimetres (0.075 in) in diameter and after spawning the embryo takes around 40 hours to develop 23 °C (73 °F) and the newly hatched 2.9 millimetres (0.11 in) larvae take 31–36 days to grow to be juveniles. They can reside to be 17 years of age. Learn more about viperfish.