The greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili), also known as the allied kingfish, great amberfish, greater yellowtail, jenny lind, sea donkey, purplish amberjack, reef donkey, rock salmon, sailors choice, yellowtail, and yellow trevally, is a species of predatory

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

carangidae The Carangidae are a family of ray-finned fish that includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, trevallies, and scads. It is the largest of the six families included within the order Carangiformes. Some authorities classify it as the ...

, the jacks and

pompano Pompanos ( ) are saltwater fish, marine fish in the genus ''Trachinotus'' in the family (biology), family Carangidae (better known as "slabs"). Pompano may also refer to various other, similarly shaped members of the Carangidae, or the Order (bi ...

s. It is found in temperate, subtropical, and tropical seas around the world. It is a popular

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

species for recreational fisheries and is important in commercial fisheries. It is the largest species in the family carangidae.

Description

The greater amberjack is a large predatory fish which has a body colouring which varies from brownish to bluish-grey on the dorsal surfaces contrasting with the silvery-white underparts. A diagonal sooty stripe starts at the snout and runs along the centre of the back

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

; another dark stripe runs from the upper jaw, across the eye to in front of the first dorsal fin. Some fish may show a light yellow to reddish-brown stripe along the flanks. The fins are dusky in colour. The second dorsal and

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

s have a low anterior lobe. Small juveniles have clear fins and a series of five vertical bands along the body and a sixth band on the caudal peduncle. The shape of the body is elongated and fusiform and it is of moderate depth and laterally compressed, and has a covering of small

cycloid In geometry, a cycloid is the curve traced by a point on a circle as it Rolling, rolls along a Line (geometry), straight line without slipping. A cycloid is a specific form of trochoid and is an example of a roulette (curve), roulette, a curve g ...

scales. The largest fish have been measured at in

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

, but the more typical length found is , while the largest published weight is . SeriolaDumeriliRLSLarge

Distribution

The greater amberjack has an almost circumglobal distribution in the world's subtropical and tropical seas and oceans. In the Indian Ocean, it is found along the African coast from South Africa east through the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and southern Japan, reaching the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

and

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

in the Pacific Ocean. It reaches as far south as the island of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

off the coast of Australia. In the western Atlantic Ocean, this species is found around

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and on the North American coast as far north as

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

extending south as far as Brazil, including the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

and the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. In the eastern Atlantic Ocean, it has been recorded as a

vagrant Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western countries, ...

as far north as the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

and is found off in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

south to Morocco and in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. It may occur along the west African coast, but may be confused with the similar ''

Seriola carpenteri ''Seriola carpenteri'' is a species of ray-finned fish commonly known as the Guinean amberjack (French:'' Sériole guinéenne'', Spanish:'' Medregal de Guinea''), which feeds on squids and fishes. It attains a size of at least 48 cm (18.9 in) f ...

''.

Habitat and biology

Habitat

The greater amberjack is found as solitary individuals or in small to moderate-sized schools, which are

epibenthic Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...

and occur in the vicinity of reefs, deep offshore caves, drop-offs, rocky outcrops, and deep seaward reefs. It sometimes enters coastal bays, while the juveniles are infrequently recorded quite far well out to sea where they shelter among floating algae, such as ''

Sargassum ''Sargassum'' is a genus of brown macroalgae ( seaweed) in the order Fucales of the Phaeophyceae class. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and ...

'', and debris. It can also be found over wrecks. Smaller individuals, less than , can be caught in shallow water, while the larger fish prefer deeper water, normally and have been recorded at depths of .

Diet

Greater amberjacks are opportunistic predators when they are adults, which prey on

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

and pelagic fishes, as well as

cephalopods A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...

and

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s. Common fish prey species include the

bigeye scad The bigeye scad or big-eyed scad (''Selar crumenophthalmus'') is a species of oceanic fish found in tropical regions around the globe. Other common names include purse-eyed scad, goggle-eyed scad, akule, chicharro, charrito ojón, jacks, matang b ...

(''Selar crumenophthalmus'') and

sardines Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it come ...

(''

Sardinella aurita ''Sardinella'' is a genus of fish in the family Dorosomatidae found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are abundant in warmer waters of the tropical and subtropical oceans. Adults are generally coastal, schooling, marine fish ...

'' and ''

Sardina pilchardus The European pilchard (''Sardina pilchardus'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the monotypic genus ''Sardina''. The young of the species are among the many fish that are sometimes called sardines. This common species is found in the northeast ...

''). The juvenile fish feed on

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

, including the

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e of

decapods The Decapoda or decapods, from Ancient Greek δεκάς (''dekás''), meaning "ten", and πούς (''poús''), meaning "foot", is a large order (biology), order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, and includes crabs, lobsters, crayfis ...

and other small invertebrates. The juveniles switch to feeding on larger prey such as larger benthic and

nektonic Nekton or necton (from the ) is any aquatic organism that can actively and persistently propel itself through a water column (i.e. swimming) without touching the bottom. Nektons generally have powerful tails and appendages (e.g. fins, pleopods ...

organisms when they attain a length of , and once they have grown larger than , they restrict their prey choice to animals that swim on or over the substrate; when they attain , they are mainly

piscivorous A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that primarily eats fish. Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evolution (via water-bound amphibians during the Devonian period); insectivory came next; then in time, the more terrestrially adapted rept ...

and at this size, they move from open waters to more coastal areas.

Breeding

''S. dumerli'' is

gonochoric In biology, gonochorism is a sexual system where there are two sexes and each individual organism is either male or female. The term gonochorism is usually applied in animal species, the vast majority of which are gonochoric. Gonochorism contrast ...

, meaning that the males and females are separate and determined at birth, and no

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

exists other than size. The sexes begin to differentiate around 4–5 months of age when they attain a length of . In the Mediterranean, they reach sexual maturity at 4 (males) and 5 (females) years of age when they attain a length around in length in males and females. In western Atlantic populations, the males are mature after three years and and the females after four years of age and attaining . This species has been observed to show pair courtship off Belize where schools numbering around 120 individuals were found and pairing mainly occurred during when the Moon was either full or waning and between February and October. Half of the males are sexually mature at

fork length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured fr ...

for males; half of the females are sexually mature on attaining fork length. This is a highly productive fish; a single female may lay 18 to 59 million eggs in a single

spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

season. Off the coast of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, spawning peaks in April and May, each female is estimated to spawn once every four to five days during the spawning season, lasting around 60 days. In the Mediterranean, spawning takes place in June and July. Spawning occurs over such habitats as reefs and shipwrecks, demonstrated by the abundance of juveniles in these habitats in the summer following the spring spawning in the western Atlantic. The eggs are in diameter, and after spawning, the embryos take around 40 hours to develop at , and the newly hatched larvae take 31–36 days to develop into juveniles. They can live up to 17 years. Greater Umberjack baked with olive oil

Predators and parasites

Greater amberjack are preyed on by larger fishes including the

yellowfin tuna The yellowfin tuna (''Thunnus albacares'') is a species of tuna found in pelagic waters of tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. Yellowfin is often marketed as ahi, from the Hawaiian , a name also used there for the closely related bigeye ...

(''Thunnus albacares'') and

European hake ''Merluccius merluccius'' or the European hake is a merluccid hake of the genus ''Merluccius''. Other vernacular names include Cornish salmon and herring hake. It is a predatory species, which was often netted alongside one of its favoured prey, ...

(''Merluccius merluccius''), and seabirds including the

brown noddy The brown noddy or common noddy (''Anous stolidus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The ...

(''Anous stolidus'') and sooty tern (''Sterna fuscata'').

Tapeworm Eucestoda, commonly referred to as tapeworms, is the larger of the two subclasses of flatworms in the class Cestoda (the other subclass being Cestodaria). Larvae have six posterior hooks on the scolex (head), in contrast to the ten-hooked Ce ...

s are occasionally recorded as infesting this species, these worms being harmless to humans, albeit rather unappetising. The

monogenea Monogeneans, members of the class Monogenea, are a group of ectoparasitic flatworms commonly found on the skin, gills, or fins of fish. They have a direct lifecycle and do not require an intermediate host. Adults are hermaphrodites, meaning they ...

n '' Zeuxapta seriolae'' has been documented as living as a parasite on the gills of these fish.

Human usage

The greater amberjack is an important food fish and is a commercial quarry species, and the species has been used in

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

in the Mediterranean since the 1980s. As a predatory fish, it requires protein and lipids sourced from other fish, so questions have arisen over the sustainability of its culture. It is also a popular game species for angling, having earned the nickname "reef donkey" for its stubborn fight. The meat is used for

sushi is a traditional Japanese dish made with , typically seasoned with sugar and salt, and combined with a variety of , such as seafood, vegetables, or meat: raw seafood is the most common, although some may be cooked. While sushi comes in n ...

and

sashimi is a Japanese cuisine, Japanese delicacy consisting of fresh raw fish or Raw meat, meat sliced into thin pieces and often eaten with soy sauce. Origin The word ''sashimi'' means 'pierced body', i.e., "wikt:刺身, 刺身" = ''sashimi'', whe ...

in Japan, while in Florida and Mexico, its flesh is marketed fresh and can be fried, broiled, baked, or grilled. Angling techniques used to catch greater amberjacks include

trolling In slang, a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a internet forum, forum, a chat room, an Multiplayer video game, online video game) or who performs similar be ...

at the surface with various artificial lures and natural baits. They are often incidentally caught by anglers who are fishing the seabed for snappers and

groupers Groupers are a diverse group of marine ray-finned fish in the family Epinephelidae, in the order Perciformes. Groupers were long considered a subfamily of the seabasses in Serranidae, but are now treated as distinct. Not all members of this f ...

Taxonomy and etymology

The greater amberjack was formally described as ''Caranx dumerili'' by

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Antoine Risso Giuseppe Antonio Risso (8 April 1777 – 25 August 1845), called Antoine Risso, was a naturalist from Nice. Risso was born in the city of Nice in the Duchy of Savoy, and studied under Giovanni Battista Balbis. He published ' (1810), ' (1826) an ...

in 1810, with the type locality given as

Nice, France Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million

. The

binomial Binomial may refer to: In mathematics *Binomial (polynomial), a polynomial with two terms *Binomial coefficient, numbers appearing in the expansions of powers of binomials *Binomial QMF, a perfect-reconstruction orthogonal wavelet decomposition * ...

consists of the generic name, which is the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

name for this species, while the

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

patronym A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, ...

ic, the identity of the person honoured in the patronym was not identified by Risso, but is almost certainly French

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

André Marie Constant Duméril André Marie Constant Duméril (1 January 1774 – 14 August 1860) was a French zoologist. He was professor of anatomy at the National Museum of Natural History (France), Muséum national d'histoire naturelle from 1801 to 1812, when he became pr ...

(1774–1860), who was the father of another well-known French zoologist

Auguste Duméril Auguste Henri André Duméril (30 November 1812 – 12 November 1870) was a French zoologist. His father, André Marie Constant Duméril (1774–1860), was also a zoologist. In 1869 he was elected as a member of the Académie des sciences. Dum ...

(1812–1870). It is the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of the genus ''

Seriola ''Seriola'' is a genus of ray-finned fish, with many species commonly known as amberjacks. Nine extant species are currently recognized, although these were formerly split into many more. Also, several species are currently placed in several oth ...

''.

References

{{Authority control

greater amberjack The greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili), also known as the allied kingfish, great amberfish, greater yellowtail, jenny lind, sea donkey, purplish amberjack, reef donkey, rock salmon, sailors choice, yellowtail, and yellow trevally, is a speci ...

Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fish of the Indian Ocean Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish of the Mediterranean Sea

Taxa named by Antoine Risso