Pomatomus Lacepède, 1802
Diagnosis: body elongate, compressed; head large, keeled above. Mouth terminal, lower jaw sometimes slightly prominent; teeth strong, acute, compressed, in a single series on both jaws, villiform on vomer and palatines. Dl VII-VIII; D2 I + 23-28, spines very short in adults; A II + 23-27, opposite soft dorsal fin; pectoral fin short, not reaching to origin of soft dorsal fin; caudal fin not deeply forked. Scales small, on head, body and bases of fins, 95-106 in lateral line. Colour: silvery, greenish-grey on back; a black spot at the base of pectoral fin, larger in young. Size: to 110 cm SL, usually 40-60 cm.
Habitat: pelagic along the continental shelf at 0-200 m. Swift fish, living in shoals, chiefly when young, often migratory; activity mainly diurnal. Food: fishes, crustaceans, cephalopods. Reproduction: during spring and summer (Mediterranean); eggs pelagic.
Distribution: eastern Atlantic from Portugal, Madeira, the Canaries, southward along African coasts to South Africa, also Mediterranean and Black Sea. Elsewhere, subcosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical seas.
Species 1.
Species of this genus in the program:
Pomatomus saltator