Bony fish · Beloniformes · Scomberesocidae

Skipper

Scomberesox saurus

Least Concern

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

The Atlantic saury, a slender fish whose jaws are drawn out into a fine beak and which has a series of separate finlets between the dorsal and caudal fins, like a tuna. It lives in enormous shoals in the surface layer of the open ocean and feeds on copepods and other small planktonic organisms.

Size

25 cm – 50 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

17countries 17parks 39dive sites

Fun facts

When chased by tuna or dolphins, the whole shoal leaps clear of the water and glides over the surface, a spectacle fishermen use to locate the predators.
Its separate finlets, a trait it shares with the mackerels despite being unrelated to them, reduce turbulence when it swims fast.
It is a key prey of tuna, marlin and seabirds in temperate oceanic waters.
It has a row of finlets — small detached fins — behind the dorsal and anal fins, just like tunas, although it is not related to them: it is a case of convergence among fast-swimming fishes.
When pursued by predators it leaps and skims over the surface in groups, a behaviour that has earned it its English name of skipper.
It is a fundamental prey of the tunas, dolphins and seabirds of the open Atlantic, so its ecological role weighs more than its commercial value.
Its beak is shorter and finer than the garfish's, and its two jaws are of similar length.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (fish)
Habitat & environment: Surface waters of the open sea in temperate zones of both hemispheres

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scomberesox_saurus