Around here I'm only aware of two species for which the common name includes the word "mackerel". The first (and most common) is that fish referred to as Pacific Mackerel, Greenback Mackerel, or just plain Mackerel. All the same fish, but three different names.

The other species is commonly referred to as Spanish Mackerel.

The fish are dramatically different. I would guess that that they are of different genuses as well as species.

Bill

 

Hey Oldtimer,

I agree with Bill....the two in the Eastern Pacific around California are:

the Pacific (Chub) Mackerel (Scomber japonicus)
I think we also call these greenbacks around here

and the (Pacific) Jack Mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus)
I think we also call these Spanish Mackerel here

It's amazing how the common names for Mackerel vary by location!

Mark


*Edit*
I searched online for your "Grammatorcynus bilineatus" and that seems to come up as Double-Lined Mackeral, not Scad
Scad seems to often come up as the "Atlantic Horse Mackerel" (Trachurus trachurus). I seem to remember skipjacks being called horse mackerel at some point around here but, searching on that, one really sees how this varies by locale!

 

Mackerel names.

Jack Mackerel (aka Mackerel Jacks) usually have a spot on the gill cover. They're members of the Jack family, as are Yellowtail. We often catch them off La Jolla for use as live bait for YT & WSB. (We prefer using Pacific Mackerel, however, because they're tougher.)

 

I wish I had a picture, but sadly, I don't, of what we call salami mackeral. It is a subspecies of the pacific mackeral, looks similar, but it is different. Maybe one of the guys who went on the Royal Star tagging trip has a recent photo.

 

Tiger Tuna!

 

They indeed seem to be two different families, the Mackerels and the Scads. Among the Mackerels, we have Pacific M. (Scomber japonicus) or possibly mistaken as Pneumatophorus diego....
See also Cero, Frigate M., King M., Monterey M., Sierra, & Spanish M.
Among the Scads, we have 3 genera & possibly 10 species, the Scad genera distinguished from the Jacks, the 3 genera being Trachurus, Selar and Decapterus...
See also Bigeye Scad, Carangidae, Jack Mackerel, Mexican Scad, Rough Scad, Round Scad, Pacific Horse-eye Jack, Pacific Jack Mackerel.
Old Timer, you have brought up a very interesting question indeed! When IS a Mackerel not a Mackerel?

 

Great info.

Common names (and fishermen are terrible about having many names for a fish) make things confusing.

Your comment about TWO familes of mack type fish is great. That may help bring sense to the problem. I'm gonna look up some stuff.

Bottom line (I think): There are only two common macks in Socal.

They are such an important bait fish, I was just wondering about them.

 

RE: Great info.

>I'm gonna look up some stuff.

I'm looking forward to your final report, OT. There appears to be some confusion out there. The Jack Mackerel is either a jack or a scad. At least one site supports the Jack answer:

The Jack Family (Carangidae)

http://www.mexfish.com/fish/jacks/jacks.htm

The Jacks (Carangidae): The Jacks are members of the Carangidae Family. The Jacks are found in all tropical and subtropical seas, with 140 individual species having been identified to date. They are voracious predators feeding primarily on small fishes. They frequently travel in large schools and roam considerable distances, normally following schools of smaller bait fish. They are generally silver in color, and exhibit a wide range in size from about 10 inches and 1 pound, to 6 feet and 90 pounds.

The Jacks are powerful midwater swimmers characteri by their streamlined, aerodynamic shape, with a latterly compressed body, slender tail base and deeply forked caudal fin. Most have posterior scales that form a lateral line which is modified into a spiny structure known as scutes (see juvenile Bigeye Jack photo). Many Jacks have elongated rays extending from their dorsal and anal fins (see juvenile African Pompano or Roosterfish photos).

Jacks spawn pelagically, releasing large numbers of tiny buoyant eggs that travel the globe, carried by currents. Most Jacks are esteemed as food fishes and are targeted by both commercial and sport fishermen. Jacks are found over rocky structure, along the edge of reefs and adjacent to large Gǣdrop-offs.Gǥ

Members of the Jack Family found in Mexican waters and represented in the fish identification section of this website include: the African Pompano, Alectis ciliaris; and Amberjack, Pacific Amberjack, Almaco Jack, Seriola rivoliana; Bigeye Jack, Bigeye Trevally, or Bigeye Crevalle Jack, Caranx sexfasciatus; Blackblotch Pompano or Silver Pompano, Trachinotus kennedyi; Bluefin Trevally, Caranx melampygus; Caballito, Goggle Eye, or Bigeye Scad, Selar crumenophthalmus; Chihuil, Pacific Jack Mackerel or California Horse Mackerel, Trachurus symmetricus; Fortune Jack, Peruvian Jack or Darkfin Jack, Seriola peruana; Golden Jack, Golden Trevally or Palometa Amarilla, Gnathanodon speciosus; Green Jack, Caranx caballus; Gafftopsail Pompano, Trachinotus rhodopusi; Island Jack or Island Trevally, Caranx orthogrammus; Longjaw Leatherjack or Bigjaw Leatherjack, Oligoplites altus; Mexican Lookdown, Selene brevoortii; Paloma Pompano, Trachinotus paitensis; Pacific Jack Crevalle, Caranx caninus; Pilot fish, Naucrates ductor; Roosterfish, Nematistius pectoralis; Rainbow Runner, Elagatis bipinnulata; Shortfinned Butterfish or Salema Butterfish, Peprilus snyderi; Shortjaw Leatherjack, Oligoplites refulgens; Shortfin Scad, Decapterus macrosoma; Threadfin Jack or Thread Pompano, Caranx otrynter; Yellowtail, California Yellowtail or Yellowtail Amberjack, Seriola dorsalis lalandi.

 

link to pic of horse mackerel

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=

&imgrefurl=http://diver.net/bbs/messages5/44908.shtml&h=600&w=800&sz=73&hl=en&start=3&tbnid=EmPSQPWl-cjPbM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=142&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpacific%2Bhorse%2Bmackerel%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

And I still like the slang "candybar mack" for small green mackerel.

 

Mark--

Thanks for your post and the excellent photos. I had always used the names you gave--"greenback" for the top fish and "jack mackerel" for the lower one. It is quite easy to see the resemblance of the "jack mackerel" to the jacks (i.e. yellowtail, amberjack etc.).

I think it is also important to note that most of the US uses the name "spanish mackerel" for the fish we call "sierra."

 

A lot of Mackerels are really scads which like somebody pointed out are in the jack family along w/ Amberjack,Yellowtail,Rainbow Runner etc etc,The one pic you have oldtimer is a mackeral scad or known in Hawaiian as a Opelu,It is the supreme bait for everything except Marlins which prefer Aku's(Skipjack(But I have found plenty Opelu's in Marlin's stomachs)
Another Scad ,the Bigeye Scad or as we call them here Akule,Goggle-eyeScad(As they call em in florida)and Caballito which all you west cost guys know the mexi's call them,As far a the rest of the Macks you guys get we don't have them in Hawaiiian waters
The only other mack we get over here is the frigate mack which some dummies confuse w/ small skippies cause they don't have the seatime some of us lucky guys do,The Frigate macks can work real well for Mahi's as well as Malolo(flying fish)Malolo won't bite a bait rig but Mahi's will spit fresh ones up when they hit the deck and I put em right on a hook and send them right back to another Mahi's gullet LOL