Jack Mackerel

Pacific Jack Mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus)

Pacific Jack Mackerel speed past, at Garden Spot off the north side of Anacapa Island. They're found in the edges of kelp forests and in shallow coves, as well as in blue-water oceans. In my memory, they tend to visit the California coast in late summer, often in big schools. These were about 20 cm long and were members of a school of 100 or so fish.

Jack mackerel look sort of prehistoric, or maybe mechanical: they're intent on their task of swimming fast. You can easily see their characteristic downcurving lateral line, of members of the jack family. Biologically, they are not members of the mackerel family (Scombidae) at all, but of the jack family (Carangidae). Divers usually lump all silvery fish in schools as "silversides".

A wider view of a school of Jack Mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus)