The longrakered trevally (''Ulua mentalis''), also known as the cale cale trevally and heavyjawed kingfish, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of marine fish in the jack and horse mackerel

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 longrakered trevally is distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

and west Pacific Oceans, from Mozambique and Madagascar in the west, to Japan and northern Australia in the east. A large species growing to a recorded length of 1 m, the longrakered trevally is distinguished by is protruding lower

jaw The jaws are a pair of opposable articulated structures at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth ...

, elongated

gill raker Gill rakers in fish are bony or cartilaginous processes that project from the branchial arch (gill arch) and are involved with suspension feeding tiny prey. They are not to be confused with the gill filaments that compose the fleshy part of th ...

s and lack of villiform teeth on its tongue. It is an inshore species, restricted to

coastal A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

and

estuarine An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

regions, where it preys on fishes 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. Little is known of the species

reproductive cycle In biology, a biological life cycle (or just life cycle when the biological context is clear) is a series of stages of the life of an organism, that begins as a zygote, often in an egg, and concludes as an adult that reproduces, producing an offsp ...

or growth. The longrakered trevally is of minor importance to

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...

and is often taken as bycatch in

finfish Fishery can mean either the Big business, enterprise of Animal husbandry#Aquaculture, raising or Fishing, harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place (wikt:AKA, a.k.a., fishing grounds). ...

and

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the intern ...

trawl Trawling is an industrial method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch di ...

s, as well as by recreational fishermen.

Taxonomy and naming

The longrakered trevally is one of two

in the genus '' Ulua'', one of around thirty genera in the jack and horse mackerel family

, which in turn is part of the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Carangiformes Carangiformes is a large, diverse order of ray-finned fishes within the clade Percomorpha. It is part of a sister clade to the Ovalentaria, alongside its sister group, the Anabantaria (including Anabantiformes and Synbranchiformes). The Cara ...

. The longrakered trevally was first

scientifically described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it diffe ...

by the famed French

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 ...

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

in his 1833 volume '' Histoire Naturelle des Poissons''. Cuvier based his description off the designated

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

specimen collected from the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

near the port city of

Massawa Massawa or Mitsiwa ( ) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea Region, Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak Archipelago. It has been a historically important port for ...

in Eritrea. Cuvier named the species ''Caranx mentalis'', with the

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

derived from the Latin word for "chin". In 1908 the American

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Universi ...

and John Snyder described ''Ulua richardsoni'' and in the process erected a new

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

for the

. Subsequent review has shown the designation of a new genus to be correct, however ''U. richardoni'' was found to be

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

with ''C. mentalis''.

ICZN The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its formal author, t ...

rules state that the first description takes priority, thus the combination of ''Ulua mentalis'' is currently accepted. Between 1833 and 1908, three other redescriptions were published, with William Macleay's ''Caranx mandibularis'' entering common usage before priority was established. The species is commonly referred to as the 'longrakered trevally' or 'heavyjawed kingfish' in reference to the protruding lower jaw, with the name 'cale cale trevally' also used, predominantly in Australia.

Description

The longrakered trevally is a large fish, reported to reach 1m in length, however is commonly seen at lengths below 60 cm. The longrakered trevally has a body shape typical of many trevallies in the genera ''Carangoides'' and ''Caranx'', having a compressed

oblong An oblong is an object longer than it is wide, especially a non-square rectangle. Oblong may also refer to: Places * Oblong, Illinois, a village in the United States * Oblong Township, Crawford County, Illinois, United States * A strip of land ...

body, with the convexity of the forehead increasing with age. The lower

protrudes beyond the upper jaw, giving a pronounced '

chin The chin is the forward pointed part of the anterior mandible (List_of_human_anatomical_regions#Regions, mental region) below the lower lip. A fully developed human skull has a chin of between 0.7 cm and 1.1 cm. Evolution The presence of a we ...

', which becomes stronger as the fish grows, and is diagnostic of the species. The jaws of the species contain narrow bands of villiform teeth, with no teeth present on the tongue, a feature which distinguishes it from the silvermouth trevally. The

s of the longrakered trevally are also distinctive, being elongated and feather like, extending into the mouth to the

tongue The tongue is a Muscle, muscular organ (anatomy), organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for chewing and swallowing as part of the digestive system, digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper s ...

. There are 74–86 gill rakers in total. The

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 ...

is in two parts; the first having 7–8 spines and the second 1 spine and 20 to 22

soft ray Fish anatomy is the study of the form or morphology of fish. It can be contrasted with fish physiology, which is the study of how the component parts of fish function together in the living fish. In practice, fish anatomy and fish physiology co ...

s. The

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 ...

has 2 detached spines followed by 17 to 18 soft rays. Both the soft dorsal and anal fins are elongated, sometimes to filaments in juveniles, with the dorsal fin being longest and occasionally extending to the

caudal 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 only ...

. The

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s are falcate and extend beyond the intersection of the curved and straight part of the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

. The lateral line has a moderate anterior arch, with the straight section containing 0–5

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

followed by 26–38

scute A scute () or scutum (Latin: ''scutum''; plural: ''scuta'' "Scutum (shield), shield") is a bony external plate or scale overlaid with horn, as on the shell of a turtle, the skin of crocodilians, and the feet of Bird anatomy#Scales, birds. The ter ...

s. The breast area is devoid of scales from the operculum to behind the

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

s and extends up to the base of the pectoral fins. There are 24

vertebrae Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spinal ...

in total. The longrakered trevally is a blue green to olive green above fading to a silvery white below. A dark diffuse blotch is present on the upper operculum in large individuals, but is faint or absent in smaller fish. The

cheek The cheeks () constitute the area of the face below the eyes and between the nose and the left or right ear. ''Buccal'' means relating to the cheek. In humans, the region is innervated by the buccal nerve. The area between the inside of th ...

s, lower jaw, inside of the mouth and tongue are all silver in smaller specimens. The spinous dorsal fin is dusky to black, while the soft dorsal and anal fins are dusky to pale green. In larger individuals the lobes of both these fins are dark, however in small specimens the filamentous of the dorsal fin rays are black while the anal fin rays white. The caudal fin is dusky. Juveniles may have 7–8 dark vertical crossbands across their body.

Distribution and habitat

The longrakered trevally is distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the

and West Pacific Oceans. In the Indian Ocean the species ranges from as far south as Mozambique and Madagascar, north to the

and

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 ...

and east to India,

South East Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and Indonesia. The species has also been recorded from offshore islands including the Seychelles and Maldives. The species has a restricted range in the west Pacific; in the south it is known from

Queensland, Australia Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, ...

, and recently hen?has been recorded from Japan in the north. The first recorded occurrence of the longrakered trevally in Japan during 2007 was of juveniles, with authors concluding schools had been carried on the

Kuroshio Current The , also known as the Black Current or is a north-flowing, warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin. It was named for the deep blue appearance of its waters. Similar to the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, the Ku ...

from China or Taiwan, and the species did not breed in Japan. The longrakered trevally inhabits shallow

waters, and is known to enter

waters as juvenile. In the Persian Gulf, studies found the species to predominately inhabit waters of 30–50 m depth.

Biology and fishery

The ecology and breeding biology of the longrakered trevally is poorly understood, with only a few studies recording aspects of its feeding. In Mozambique the species was recorded as feeding on

s, while adults also took small fishes as prey. In the Solomon Islands the species is known to predominantly take fish as prey in lagoons, however at times drops fish from its diet. The fine gill rakers on the longrakered trevally have also led to some authors suggesting the possibility of

filter feeding Filter feeders are aquatic animals that acquire nutrients by feeding on organic matters, food particles or smaller organisms (bacteria, microalgae and zooplanktons) suspended in water, typically by having the water pass over or through a spe ...

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 ...

. The longrakered trevally is of minor importance to

, with catch statistics not kept by the

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...

. Throughout its range it is taken with

gill net Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is ...

s traps, handlines, and other types of artisanal gear. For the most part it is taken as

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

, and has been recorded in Indian finfish catches as well as Australian and Persian Gulf

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 ...

and

trawl fisheries. The abundance of the longrakered trevally in Persian Gulf shrimp catches led to a study of its abundance in the

Bandar Charak Bandar Charak () is a coastal city in, and the capital of, Shibkaveh District of Bandar Lengeh County, Hormozgan province, Iran. It also serves as the administrative center for Bandar Charak Rural District. Demographics Language More tha ...

area of Iran, where in this region alone a

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

of 652

tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

was estimated. The longrakered trevally is occasionally taken by recreational fishermen by lure or bait methods, however not a common catch. Remains of the species have been found in

archeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

s in the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

, suggesting the longrakered trevally has been exploited throughout

prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

in this region.

References

External links

Longrakered trevally (''Ulua mentalis'')
a
FishBaseLongrakered trevally (''Ulua mentalis'')
a
Australian Museum OnlineLongrakered trevally (''Ulua mentalis'')
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Encyclopaedia of Life
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3268517 longrakered trevally longrakered trevally longrakered trevally