Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment.
The mackerel, tuna, and bonito family, Scombridae, includes many of the most important and familiar food fishes. The family consists of 51 species in 15 genera and two subfamilies. All species are in the subfamily Scombrinae, except the butterfly kingfish, which is the sole member of subfamily Gasterochismatinae.
The Atlantic horse mackerel, also known as the European horse mackerel or common scad, is a species of jack mackerel in the family Carangidae, which includes the jacks, pompanos and trevallies. It is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean off Europe and Africa and into the south-eastern Indian Ocean. It is an important species in commercial fisheries and is listed as a Vulnerable species on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The butterfly kingfish is an ocean-dwelling ray-finned bony fish in the mackerel family, Scombridae – a family which it shares with the tunas, mackerels, Spanish mackerels, and bonitos. Unlike the 50 species from those four tribes, however, this species is unique in that it is the only scombrid to be classified apart from the rest, into the subfamily Gasterochismatinae and genus Gasterochisma.
The Gempylidae are a family of perciform fishes commonly known as snake mackerels or escolars. The family includes about 25 species.
Scomberomorus is a genus of ray-finned bony fish in the mackerel family, Scombridae. More specifically, it is a member of the tribe Scomberomorini, commonly known as the Spanish mackerels.
Lamna is a genus of mackerel sharks in the family Lamnidae, containing two extant species: the porbeagle of the North Atlantic and Southern Hemisphere, and the salmon shark of the North Pacific.
Scomberomorini is a tribe of ray-finned saltwater bony fishes that is commonly known as the Spanish mackerels, seerfishes or seer fish. This tribe is a subset of the mackerel family (Scombridae) – a family that it shares with three sister tribes, the tunas, mackerels, and bonitos, and the butterfly kingfish. Scomberomorini comprises 21 species across three genera. They are pelagic fish, fast swimmers and predatory in nature, that fight vigorously when caught. They are mainly caught using hooks and lines.
The cero, also known as the pintado, kingfish, cero mackerel, cerite or painted mackerel, is a ray-finned bony fish in the family Scombridae, better known as the mackerel family. More specifically, this fish is a member of the tribe Scomberomorini, the Spanish mackerels, and is the type species of the genus Scomberomorus. It is similar in appearance and coloration to the Atlantic Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus maculatus, except the cero has a longitudinal stripe in addition to the spots of the Atlantic Spanish mackerel.
Scomber is a genus of fish in the family Scombridae living in the open ocean found in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. The genus Scomber and the genus Rastrelliger comprise the tribe Scombrini, known as the "true mackerels". These fishes have an elongated body, highly streamlined, muscular and agile. The eyes are large, the head is elongated, with a big mouth provided with teeth. They have two dorsal triangular fins, with some stabilizing fins along the caudal peduncle. The basic color is blue-green with a silvery white belly and a darker back, usually black mottled.
Euzaphlegidae is a family of extinct escolar-like fish closely related to the snake mackerels. Fossils of euzaphlegids are found from Paleocene to Late Miocene-aged marine strata of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains, India, Iran, Turkmenistan, Italy, and Southern California.
Progempylus is an extinct genus of prehistoric snake mackerel that lived during the lower Eocene.
Abadzekhia is an extinct genus of prehistoric snake mackerel that lived from the early Oligocene epoch in what is now the Caucasus Mountains of Southern Russia. Fossils of this genus have also been found in Georgia and Germany.
Palimphyes is an extinct genus of prehistoric euzaphlegid bony fish related to the escolars and snake mackerels. The various species lived as deepwater mesopelagic predators in the Tethys and Paratethys oceans, with fossils of ten species found in Paleocene to Oligocene strata of the Swiss Alps, the Carpathian and Caucasus Mountains, Iran, India, and Turkmenistan.
The Atka mackerel is a mackerel in the family Hexagrammidae. Atka mackerel are common in the northern Pacific ocean, and are one of only two members of the genus Pleurogrammus - the other being the Arabesque greenling. The Atka mackerel was named for Atka Island, the largest island of the Andreanof islands, a branch of the Aleutians.
Rastrelliger is a mackerel genus in the family Scombridae. The three species of Rastrelliger together with the four species of Scomber comprise the tribe Scombrini, known as the "true mackerels".
The shark mackerel is a species of Spanish mackerel in the scombrid family (Scombridae). Their maximum reported length is 112 cm (44 in), and the maximum reported weight is 13.5 kg (30 lb).
The Scombrinae are a subfamily of ray-finned bony fishes in the family Scombridae. Of the 51 species in the Scombridae, 50 are in Scombrinae – with the sole exception being the butterfly kingfish, which is placed in the monospecific subfamily Gasterochismatinae.
The Chinese mackerel, also known as the Chinese seerfish, is a ray-finned bony fish in the family Scombridae, better known as the mackerel family. More specifically, this fish is a member of the tribe Scomberomorini, the Spanish mackerels. It is a marine species occurring in the Western Pacific Ocean, but it also enters the Mekong River.
Scombriformes is an order of bony fish containing nine families which were classified under the suborders Scombroidei and Stromateoidei, of the wider grouping known as Perciformes, Fishes of the World, 5th ed. (2016), recognised the order but subsequent workers have suggested that Scombriformes forms part of the larger Pelagiaria clade.
