Author: Cuvier, 1829
Decapterus punctatus Cuvier, 1829
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Decapterus punctatus (Cuvier, 1829) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: posterior end of upper jaw slightly concave, rounded and produced below, concave above; upper jaw with minute teeth. Gillrakers (including rudiments) 31-41 on lower limb of first gill arch. Shoulder girdle (cleithrum) margin with two low papillae; a relatively broad, blunt papilla ventrally and a small papilla near upper edge. Dorsal fin VIII + I + 30-35; anal fin II + I + 25-31; terminal ray of dorsal and anal fins noticeably separated from adjacent ray and without inter-radial membrane. Curved lateral line with 45-62 scales and 0-7 scutes; straight lateral line with 0-4 scales and 32-42 scutes; total scales and scutes 79-108. Colour: 3-14 small black spots, regularly spaced, on curved lateral line (formed between 10 and 15 cm fork length); oral valve (membrane) at symphysis of upper jaw transparent or dusky; greenish to greyishgreen above, dusky to whitish below; small black opercular spot on edge near upper angle. Size: to 25 cm fork length, common to 15 cm.
Habitat: primarily in midwater or near bottom in shallow water to about 100 m; a schooling species. Food: smaller planktonic invertebrates, primarily copepods. Reproduction: see family.
Distribution: in eastern Atlantic, Bay of Biscay and Madeira (rare) and unconfirmed records for Mediterranean. Elsewhere, in the eastern Atlantic, from the Canaries, St. Helena and African coast from Sierra Leone to Walvis Bay, Namibia; in the western Atlantic, from Georges Bank, into the Gulf of Mexico, and to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.