Author: (Linnaeus, 1758)
Trachurus trachurus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Diagnosis: dorsal accessory lateral line terminating below soft dorsal rays 23-31. Gillrakers (including rudiments) 41-48 on lower limb of first gill arch. Shoulder girdle (cleithrum) margin smooth, without papillae. Dorsal fin VIII + I + 29-33; anal fin II + I + 24-29; distance between ultimate and penultimate rays of anal fin no more than 1.5 times distance between preceding rays. Scales in curved lateral line 33-40, expanded dorsolaterally and scute-like (maximum height of scales 6.3-8.2% of SL); in straight lateral line 31-36 scutes; total scales and scutes 66-75. Colour: small, black opercular spot on edge near upper angle; upper part of body and head nearly black to grey or bluishgreen; lower two-thirds of body and head usually paler, whitish to silvery. Size: to about 60 cm fork length, common to 30 cm.
Habitat: usually over sandy bottom in 100-200 m, but reported to 500 m, also pelagic and near surface at times; often shoals with juvenile herrings. Food: crustaceans, squids and small fishes. Reproduction: see family.
Distribution: north-eastern Atlantic from Iceland to Cape Verde Is., Mediterranean and Marmara Seas, rare in Black Sea. The subspecies T. trachurus capensis occurs along the African coast from the Gulf of Guinea southward, including the Agulhas Bank in the Indian Ocean.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Lo Bianco, 1909: 756-757 | De Buen, 1932: 20, fig. 12 | Letaconnoux, 1951: 35-39, fig. 26 | Padoa, 1956: 548-553, fig. 386-392, pl. 37 (fig. 11) | Demir, 1961: 317, fig. 1 | Bini, 1968, S: 48, fig.
Otoliths (sagitta). Koken, 1888: 274, pl. 18 (fig. 13) | Shepherd, 1910: 292, pl. 1 (fig 7) | Sanz Echeverría, 1926: 150, fig. 12-13 | Letaconnoux, 1951: 34, fig. 25 | Chaine, 1957: 513, pl. 5 | Bauzá-Rullán, 1957: 43, pl. 4 (fig. 1-4) | Schmidt, 1968: 30, pl. 19.