''Trachurus lathami'' is a species of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in the family Carangidae and the genus ''

Trachurus Jack mackerels or saurels are marine fish in the genus ''Trachurus'' of the family Carangidae. The name of the genus derives from the Greek words ''trachys'' ("rough") and ''oura'' ("tail"). Some species, such as ''T. murphyi'', are harvested in ...

'', the jack mackerels. Common names include rough scad and horse mackerelVergani, M., et al. (2008)
Food of the yellowtail amberjack ''Seriola lalandi'' from the south-west Atlantic.
''Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK'' 88(4) 851-52. in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, as well as ''chinchard frappeur'' (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

), ''chicharro garretón'' ( Spanish), ''jurel'' (in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

), and ''carapau'', ''garaçuma'', ''surel'', and ''xixarro'' (in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

).Common names of ''Trachurus lathami''.
FishBase. It is native to parts of the western

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, including seas off the eastern coasts of North and South America and the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

.Froese, R. and D. Pauly, Eds
''Trachurus lathami''.
FishBase. 2011.

Description

This species reaches up to about 40 cm in maximum length, but most individuals are about 30. It is around 12 cm long when it reaches maturity. Its maximum weight is about 500 g. It is elongated in shape and somewhat laterally compressed. It is covered in

cycloid scales A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as we ...

, a thin, overlapping scale type. The body is blue dorsally and silver and white ventrally. A black spot occurs on the edge of the operculum, with a dark tinge to the nose, the edges of the dorsal fin, and the tail fin. The other fins are pale. The eye is large and has an eyelid.

Habitat and biology

This marine fish lives mainly in coastal waters, where it is

pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...

, cruising in the water column, and

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...

, living along the seabed on the

continental shelves A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

. It is a

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

fish. It can be found at ocean depths between 30 and 200 m. It can be found in shallower waters if conditions are tolerable; in 2009, it was recorded in

Mar Chiquita Mar Chiquita is a coastal lagoon in the southeast province of Buenos Aires in eastern Argentina. It is located by the Atlantic coast, 30 km north of Mar del Plata. The area is a natural reserve where a number of animal species live around ...

, a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...

in Argentina.Blasina, G. E., et al. (2009)
First record of ''Callorhinchus callorynchus'' and ''Trachurus lathami'' in a south-western Atlantic coastal lagoon.
''Marine Biodiversity Records'' 2 e90. Its diet is made up of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s such as

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

s, including those of the genera '' Calanoides'', '' Candacia'', ''

Centropages ''Centropages'' is a genus of copepods in the family Centropagidae with 34 known marine species. Species * '' Centropages abdominalis'' Sato, 1913 * '' Centropages aucklandicus'' Krämer, 1895 * '' Centropages bradyi'' Wheeler, 1900 * ' ...

'', '' Corycaeus'', '' Eucalanus'', and ''

Oncaea ''Oncaea'' is a genus of copepods. The genus contains bioluminescent species. Unlike other bioluminescent copepods, ''Oncaea'' have an internal (non-secreted) bioluminescence. ''Oncaea'' contains the following species: *'' Oncaea africana'' Sh ...

'', and the species '' Temora stylifera'' and '' Calanopia americana''.de Carvalho, M. R. and L. S. H. Soares. (2006)
Diel feeding pattern and diet of rough scad ''Trachurus lathami'' Nichols, 1920 (Carangidae) from the southwestern Atlantic.
''Neotropical Ichthyology'' 4(4) 419-26. It eats euphausiid krill,Haimovici, M., et al. (1994)
Demersal bony fish of the outer shelf and upper slope of the southern Brazil Subtropical Convergence Ecosystem.
''Marine Ecology Progress Series'' 108 59-77.

chaetognaths The Chaetognatha or chaetognaths (meaning ''bristle-jaws'') are a phylum of predatory marine worms that are a major component of plankton worldwide. Commonly known as arrow worms, about 20% of the known Chaetognatha species are benthic, and ca ...

, diastylid crustaceans such as '' Anchistylis'' and ''

Diastylis ''Diastylis'' is a genus of crustaceans which belong to the family Diastylidae. It includes the following species: *'' Diastylis abboti'' Gladfelter, 1975 *'' Diastylis abbreviata'' G. O. Sars, 1871 *'' Diastylis acuminata'' Jones, 1960 *''Dias ...

'' species, and lucifer prawns, crab larvae, and crustacean eggs. It is not limited to invertebrates; it is known to eat

and their eggs. The feeding pattern of the fish is apparently driven by a

circadian rhythm A circadian rhythm (), or circadian cycle, is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep–wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. It can refer to any process that originates within an organism (i.e., Endogeny (biology), endogeno ...

, with feeding occurring at specific times in the afternoon and night. The fish often schools. In some areas, the juvenile is often found with the jellyfish ''

Chrysaora lactea ''Chrysaora lactea'' is a sea nettle in the family Pelagiidae. This jellyfish has a bell diameter of up to , and it is native to the Atlantic coast of South America. It has also been reported from the Caribbean region, but genetic studies indica ...

'', with which it can find protection from predators. Several juveniles at once may shelter under the umbrella of the jellyfish, where they may be protected by the

tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...

s, or hide behind the umbrella, using it as a shield. When away from the jellyfish, it is sometimes eaten by the comb grouper (''Mycteroperca acutirostris''). The grouper is known to follow the jellyfish, waiting for the scads to come out.Bonaldo, R. M., et al. (2004)
Does the association of young fishes with jellyfishes protect from predation? A report on a failure case due to damage to the jellyfish.
''Neotropical Ichthyology'' 2(2) 103-5. The fish is prey for many other animals, as well. It made up the majority of the diet of the yellowtail amberjack (''Seriola lalandi'') in one survey.

Parasites

Studies of the

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

load carried by the fish reveal it may be infested with the digenean flatworms '' Aponurus laguncula'' and '' Ectenurus virgulus'', the monogenean flatworm '' Pseudaxine trachuri'', a '' Corynosoma''

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...

, many larval nematodes,Gonçalves, P. H. D. and D. R. Alves. (2012)
Ecologia da comunidade de metazoários parasitos do xixarro, ''Trachurus lathami'' Nichols, 1920 (Osteichthyes: Carangidae) do litoral do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
Cadernos UniFOA. 20. the

tapeworm Eucestoda, commonly referred to as tapeworms, is the larger of the two subclasses of flatworms in the class Cestoda (the other subclass is Cestodaria). Larvae have six posterior hooks on the scolex (head), in contrast to the ten-hooked Cestodar ...

'' Grillotia carvajalregorum'',Braicovich, P. E., et al. (2012)
Geographical patterns of parasite infracommunities in the rough scad, ''Trachurus lathami'' Nichols, in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean.
''Journal of Parasitology'' 98(4) 768-77. and several

s, such as '' Caligus mutabilis'', '' Lernanthropus trachuri'', and '' Tuxophorus caligodes''.Luz, V. C. F. G. D., et al. (2012)
Copépodes parasitos de ''Trachurus lathami'' (Nichols, 1920) (Osteichthyes: Carangidae) do litoral do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
''Revista Eletrônica Novo Enfoque'' v.15 (''edição especial'') 51-3.

Distribution

The range of the fish extends from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

to Argentina. It is present in the Gulf of Maxico, but it is uncommon in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. It has been found to be abundant on the shelf outside the Río de la Plata

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

at the

Argentina–Uruguay border The Argentina–Uruguay border is a line of 579 km marked by the Uruguay River, and is the border between Argentina and Uruguay. It starts in a triple border Argentina-Uruguay-Brazil, at the mouth of the Quaraí River in the Uruguay. The cou ...

,García, M. L., et al. (2010)
From fresh water to the slope: Fish community ecology in the Río de la Plata and the sea beyond.
''Lat. Am. J. Aquat. Res.'' 38(1) 81-94. and along the coast of southern Brazil.

Fisheries

This species is commercially fished for food.

Taxonomy and naming

''Trachurus lathami'' was formally described by John Treadwell Nichols in 1920 with its type locality given as

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

Suffolk County, New York Suffolk County () is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York. It is mainly located on the eastern end of Long Island, but also includes several smaller islands. According to the 2020 United States census, the county's populatio ...

. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours the collectors of the type, the Long Island farmer and amateur naturalist Roy Latham (1881-1979).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2725686

Trachurus lathami ''Trachurus lathami'' is a species of fish in the family Carangidae and the genus ''Trachurus'', the jack mackerels. Common names include rough scad and horse mackerelVergani, M., et al. (2008)Food of the yellowtail amberjack ''Seriola lalandi'' ...

Fish of the Western Atlantic Taxa named by John Treadwell Nichols

rough scad ''Trachurus lathami'' is a species of fish in the family Carangidae and the genus ''Trachurus'', the jack mackerels. Common names include rough scad and horse mackerelVergani, M., et al. (2008)Food of the yellowtail amberjack ''Seriola lalandi'' ...