Bony fish · Scombriformes · Scombridae

Atlantic Chub Mackerel

Scomber colias

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The Atlantic chub mackerel, a scombrid with a blue-green back marked by a pattern of wavy lines and a silvery belly speckled with grey. It forms large shoals in temperate and warm waters of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, where it chases small fish, crustaceans and larvae.

Size

25 cm – 60 cm

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

OceanCarnivore Colonial Fish Ocean

19countries 36parks 63dive sites7same family

Fun facts

GeneralIt is told from the Atlantic mackerel by its larger eye and its swim bladder.
Its range has shifted northwards in recent decades, a change attributed to the warming of the water.
It is an oily fish of high nutritional value and low price, and one of the steadiest catches of the small-scale fleet of southern Europe.
It is distinguished from the Atlantic mackerel, Scomber scombrus, by having a swim bladder, which the latter lacks, and by the mottling on its belly.
Its range is shifting northwards as the north-east Atlantic warms, and today it is far more abundant in waters where the Atlantic mackerel once dominated.
That shift has had real consequences for fisheries: in the Bay of Biscay and Iberian waters it has gone from bycatch to target species.
It is an oily fish with fatty flesh, very rich in omega-3 fatty acids.