Scomber Linnaeus, 1758
Body elongate and rounded. Front and hind margins of eye covered by an adipose lid. Teeth in upper and lower jaws small and conical; fine teeth also present on vomer and palatine bones. Gillrakers on lower limb of first arch 24-35. Last branchiostegal ray only slightly flattened. 2 widely separated dorsal fins (interspace at least equal to length of first dorsal fin base), the first with 8-13 spines; 5 dorsal and 5 anal finlets. Inter-pelvic process small and single. Scales behind head and around pectoral fins larger and more conspicuous than those covering rest of body, but no well-developed corselet. No central keel between the 2 small keels on each side of caudal peduncle. No bony keels on caudal peduncle vertebrae. Swimbladder present or absent. Intestine folded. Liver simple, single-lobed. No cutaneous artery. Vertebrae 13 + 18 or 14 + 17 = 31. Caudal vertebrae all about the same length, last two or three not greatly shortened. Inter-neural bones under first dorsal fin 12-28; first inter-haemal bone anterior to haemal spine of fifteenth vertebra.
Epipelagic or mesodermersal. Scooling. Feeding primarily on pelagic crustaceans but also other small invertebrates and small fishes. Eggs and larvae planktonic.
Species 3; in Clofnam area 2.
Genus divided into 2 subgenera (see synonym field).
Recent revision: Matsui (1967).
Species of this genus in the program:
Scomber japonicus
Scomber scombrus