Jack mackerels or saurels are marine fish in the genus ''Trachurus'' of the family Carangidae. The name of the genus derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words ''trachys'' ("rough") and ''oura'' ("tail"). Some species, such as ''T. murphyi'', are harvested in purse seine nets, and overfishing (harvesting beyond sustainable levels) has sometimes occurred. It is often used in

Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan ( Japanese: ) is based on rice with miso soup and ot ...

, where it is called ''aji'', in Turkish cuisine, where it is called ''istavrit'', and in Portuguese Cuisine, where it is called ''carapau''.

Species

250px, Japanese breakfast with grilled horse mackerel">grilled.html" ;"title="breakfast with grilled">breakfast with grilled horse mackerel The genus ''Trachurus'' was defined in 1810 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz, who called the type species ''Trachurus saurus''. taxonomy (biology), Taxonomists later determined that ''T. saurus'' was in fact the same species as one described earlier as ''Scomber trachurus'', defined in 1758 by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...

. Under the rules of

binomial nomenclature In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, b ...

, that species is now known as '' Trachurus trachurus'', commonly known as the Atlantic horse mackerel. The currently recognized species in this genus are:

References

* Fitch JE (1956
"Jack mackerel"
''CalCOFI Reports'', 5: 27–28. {{Taxonbar, from=Q982933 * Caranginae Extant Eocene first appearances Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque Marine fish genera