''Scomber'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Scombridae 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 butte ...

living in the

open ocean 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 ...

found in

Atlantic 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 ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

and

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

. The genus ''Scomber'' and the genus '' Rastrelliger'' comprise the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

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 Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as see ...

. The basic color is blue-green with a silvery white belly and a darker back, usually black mottled.

Species

There are currently 5 recognized species in this genus: * ''

Scomber australasicus The blue mackerel (''Scomber australasicus''), also called Japanese mackerel, Pacific mackerel, slimy mackerel or spotted chub mackerel, is a fish of the family Scombridae, found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific Ocean from Ja ...

'' G. Cuvier, 1832 (Blue mackerel) * ''

Scomber colias Atlantic chub mackerel (''Scomber colias''), also known as Tinker mackerel, is a pelagic schooling species of mackerel found in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea. It was originally thought to be a subspecies of the ...

'' J. F. Gmelin, 1789 (Atlantic chub mackerel) * ''

Scomber indicus ''Scomber indicus'' or Indian chub mackerel is a species of fish in the family Scombridae The mackerel, tuna, and bonito family, Scombridae, includes many of the most important and familiar food fishes. The family consists of 51 species in ...

'' E. M. Abdussamad,

Sukumaran Edappal Ponnamkuzhi Veettil Parameswaran Sukumaran Nair (10 June 1948 – 16 June 1997), known mononymously as Sukumaran, was an Indian actor and producer of Malayalam films. Sukumaran became a popular film star in Malayalam cinema during the ...

Ratheesh Ratheesh (1954–2002) was an Indian actor best known for his work in Malayalam cinema. He was a native of Kalavoor in the Alappuzha district of Kerala, India. He performed villainous roles during the 1990s. He had acted in 158 films with direc ...

, 2016 (Indian chub mackerel) Abdussamad, E.M., Sukumaran, S., Ratheesh, A.K.O., Koya, K.M., Koya, K.P.S., Rohit, P., Reader, S., Akhilesh, K.V. & Gopalakrishnan, A. (2016): ''Scomber indicus'', a new species of mackerel (Scombridae: Scombrini) from Eastern Arabian Sea. ''Indian Journal of Fisheries, 63 (3): 1-10.'' * ''

Scomber japonicus The chub mackerel, Pacific mackerel, or Pacific chub mackerel (''Scomber japonicus'') is a species of fish in the tuna and mackerel family, Scombridae. This species of mackerel closely resembles the Atlantic chub mackerel. Characteristics The chu ...

'' Houttuyn, 1782 (Chub mackerel) * '' Scomber scombrus''

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, the ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologi ...

(Atlantic mackerel)

Fossil record

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s of this genus are found from the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but t ...

to the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

(33.9 to 1.806 million years ago). They are known from various localities of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

.Paleobiology Database: Fossilworks: ''Scomber'' Linnaeus, 1758.
/ref> Fossil species include: * '' S. collettei'' (Bannikov and Erebakan, 2022) from the lowermost

Middle Miocene The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma to 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma (million ...

of the Krasnodar Region. * '' S. cubanicus'' (Danil'chenko 1960) from the Upper

Krasnodar Territory Krasnodar Krai (russian: Краснода́рский край, r=Krasnodarsky kray, p=krəsnɐˈdarskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and administratively a part of t ...

. * '' S. voitestii'' (Pauca 1929) from the Middle Oligocene of the

Carpathian The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

Menilite slates. * ''S.'' sp. from the Middle-Upper

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

of the Kurasi Formation on

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3593412 Scombridae Marine fish genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus