The newly hatched larva is about 2.5 mm (0.098 in) long with a large yolk sack. Depending on size, a female may shed from 50,000 to several million eggs over the spawning season. Life history Įggs and sperm are shed into the sea and their union is by chance. They migrate to the northern part of their range in the summer and to the southern part in the winter, swimming in large schools.īoth the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico stocks congregate in a winter mixing zone in an area of Monroe County, Florida, south of the Florida Keys, between November and March. King mackerel migrate with seasonal changes in water temperature and with changes in food availability. Migration patterns A male king mackerel, about 6 kg (13 lb). Larger kings (heavier than 9 kg or 20 lb) often occur inshore, in the mouths of inlets and harbors, and occasionally even at the 180 m (590 ft) depths at the edge of the Gulf Stream. King mackerel commonly occur in depths of 12–45 m (40–150 ft), where the principal fisheries occur. Nonetheless, a preference for water temperatures in the range of 20 to 29 ☌ (68 to 84 ☏) may limit distribution. Common in the coastal zone from North Carolina to Brazil, it occurs as far south as Rio de Janeiro, and occasionally as far north as the Gulf of Maine and found in Western coast of India predominantly in the Arabian Sea as well as in the East coast of India Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean. The king mackerel is a subtropical species of the Atlantic Coast of the Americas. These teeth look very similar to those of the bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix. Its cutting-edged teeth are large, uniform, closely spaced and flattened from side to side. Fish under 5 kg (11 lb) show yellowish-brown spots on the flanks, somewhat smaller than the spots of the Atlantic Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus maculatus. Coloration is olive on the back, fading to silver with a rosy iridescence on the sides, fading to white on the belly. The lateral line starts high on the shoulder, dips abruptly at mid-body and then continues as a wavy horizontal line to the tail. The first (spiny) dorsal fin is entirely colorless and is normally folded back into a body groove, as are the pelvic fins. The entire body is covered with very small, hardly visible, loosely attached scales. The king mackerel is a medium-sized fish, typically encountered from 5 kg (11 lb) to 14 kg (30 lb), but is known to exceed 40 kg (90 lb). It is an important species to both the commercial and recreational fishing industries. The king mackerel ( Scomberomorus cavalla) surmayi or kingfish, is a migratory species of mackerel of the western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

Catching a macro fish