Author: Cuvier, 1832
Scomberomorus tritor Cuvier, 1832
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Scomberomorus tritor (Cuvier, 1832) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: a large species with relatively few vertebrae (45-47) and pectoral finrays (20-22, usually 21) and moderate numbers of gillrakers (12-15). Pelvic fin relatively long (5.0-7.1% FL). Lateral line gradually curving down toward caudal peduncle, without a sharp dip under second dorsal fin. Dorsal spines 15-18, usually 17-18; dorsal and anal finlets 7-9, usually 8. Colour: back bluish-green, sides silvery with about 3 rows of vertically elongate spots; anterior half and margin of posterior half of first dorsal fin black, base of posterior half white. Size: to 98 cm fork length, common to 50 cm.
Habitat: epipclagic in coastal waters, sometimes entering estuaries. Presumably schooling. Food: small fishes, especially clupeoids like sardines and anchovies. Reproduction: eggs and larvae planktonic.
Distribution: Mediterranean Sea (rare), known from three specimens caught in the 1880s: two from Nice and one from Palermo. Elsewhere, an eastern Atlantic endemic, range concentrated in the Gulf of Guinea from the Canaries and Dakar south to Angola.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Chaine, 1957: 504, pl. 4.