Pacific mackerel (Scomber japonicus) is a saltwater species recorded in the United States. It is found at depths of ≤ 300 m. The main season in the United States runs summer, autumn.
Scientific name: Scomber japonicus · Water: Saltwater · Season: Summer, Autumn
Size: up to 36 cm
The Pacific mackerel (Scomber japonicus), also called the chub mackerel or Pacific chub mackerel, is a schooling scombrid of the tuna and mackerel family with a well-developed swim bladder attached to the oesophagus, a feature the true mackerels of the genus Scomber lack. In the eastern Pacific it is found from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, generally within about 32 km of the coast in water between 10 and 22 °C, with young fish living around sandy beaches or kelp beds and adults found in deeper water on shallow banks down to about 300 m. It schools with other pelagic species such as other mackerels and sardines, eats pelagic crustaceans, and follows thrown bait as readily and bites quite as greedily as the Atlantic mackerel. In the United States it is a classic California pier and boat species — a recreational mainstay with an average catch of some 1,462 tons a year in California during the 1980s — taken on small shiny jigs, feathers or bait from piers and boats, and it grows to a length of about 20–36 cm.
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