The leatherjacket fish (''Oligoplites saurus''), also known as leather jack, is a species of jack in the family

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 ...

. Leather jack may also refer to other members of the Carangidae, such as the pilot fish. The largest are about a foot long.

Distribution

There are two subspecies of ''Oligoplites saurus''. The

nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...

''O.s. saurus'' is distributed in the western Atlantic Ocean from

Chatham, Massachusetts Chatham () is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Chatham is located at the southeastern tip of Cape Cod and has historically been a fishing community. First settled by th ...

south along the U.S. coast, throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, and along the South American coast to

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

, Brazil. The other subspecies ''O. s. inornatus'' is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from southern

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

, much of the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

to Ecuador, including the Galapagos and Malpelo Islands.

Feeding

It voraciously devours small fish and

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

, often in company with larger predatory species. Leatherjackets feed on small fish including the silver perch.

As food

Traditionally, the leather jacket has not been eaten, but recently, with large-scale farming of the fish, it has become common at market. The fish has a mild, oily taste similar to

Spanish mackerel Scomberomorini is a tribe of ray-finned, saltwater, bony fishes that is commonly known as Spanish mackerels, seerfishes, or seer fish. This tribe is a subset of the mackerel family (Scombridae), which it shares with four sister tribes, the tu ...

or bluefish. It has occasionally been the prey to

blue swimmer crab ''Portunus pelagicus'', also known as the blue crab, blue swimmer crab, blue manna crab and flower crab is a species of large crab found in the Indo-Pacific, including off the coasts Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and V ...

, as juvenile fish in sea grass beds.

References

External links

Fish and Wildlife Service

FishBase
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2948084 leatherjacket fish Fish of the Western Atlantic Fish of Mexican Pacific coast Western Central American coastal fauna leatherjacket fish Taxa named by Marcus Elieser Bloch Taxa named by Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider