Spanish mackerel

Other Common Names of Spanish mackerel are mackerel, spotted Spanish mackerel, horse mackerel, bay mackerel, Spaniard, spotted cybium

Spanish mackerel are targeted by recreational and commercial operators fishing in coastal pelagic areas. Spanish mackerel are landed with cast nets, handline, and midwater gillnet gears. In the Gulf of Mexico, Spanish mackerel are captured with handline and midwater gillnet gears.

Spanish mackerel are confined to warm tropical and subtropical waters and are distributed along the East Coast of the United States and through the Gulf of Mexico.

Spanish mackerel otoliths (sagittae) are small, elongate, laterally compressed, and have an indented sulcus on the medial side. The rostrum and anti-rostrum are easily distinguishable and extremely fragile due to their small size and the overall thinness of the entire otolith.

Spanish mackerel typically reach sexual maturity in their first year (male) or second year (female), and also exhibit high levels of fecundity. The fish can live for nine years with females growing faster than males.

Maximum size is about 77 cm fork length and 4.8 kg weight (Beardsley & Richards, 1970). Females grow larger than males. The all-tackle angling record 1b a 4.02 kg fish with a fork length of 83 cm taken at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in June 1982. In Florida, females attain sexual maturity between 25 and 37 cm fork length, males between 28 and 34 cm.

Spanish mackerel

Atlantic mackerel: The family of Scombridae

The Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) belongs to the family Scombridae. It is a pelagic, migratory schooling species that can be found in both temperate and cold shelf areas. Atlantic mackerel is one of the most abundant and widely distributed migratory fish species in the North Atlantic. Mackerel live their entire life in the pelagic environment. Early life stages (eggs and young larvae) drift passively with the currents until they start undertaking vertical migrations.

Atlantic mackerel are opportunistic feeders that can ingest prey either by individual selection of organisms or by passive filter feeding. Filter feeding occurs when small plankton are abundant and mackerel swim through patches with mouth slightly agape, filtering food through their gill rakers.

In the North East Atlantic (NEA) mackerel spawn from the Mediterranean Sea in the south to the Faroe Islands in the North and from Hatton Bank in the West to Kattegat in the East. Spawning starts in January in the Mediterranean Sea, February off the Portuguese coasts and ends in July north of Scotland and in the North Sea.

Mackerel is an important food source to predatory fish such as tuna, striped bass, and cod, and it is often used as bait to target these species by both commercial and recreational fishermen.

Fresh mackerel has a rich pronounced flavour, greyish and oily colour, which turns from off-white to beige when cooked. It has a soft flaky texture and is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and is also an excellent source of selenium, niacin, and vitamins B6 and B12. The Atlantic mackerel can be hot smoked, either whole, gutted with or without the head on, or as fillets.
Atlantic mackerel:  The family of Scombridae

Frozen mackerel

Atlantic and Spanish mackerel are sold to retailers as the fresh product, either as fillets or as the round uncut fish. Amounts of Spanish mackerel also go to local fresh fish market. Spanish mackerel also is also sold as marine mammal food to aquarium-type attractions.

Spanish Mackerel

Some are frozen by placing the round fish in pans and holding at -18° C, or below in rooms with or without circulating air.

The fish, frozen as a block, are sprayed with water for purposes of glazing to prevent dehydration and held in the frozen state until defrosted for sale to restaurants or retail outlets. Freezing, frozen storage and thawing affect the quality and shelf stability of fish and seafood. During frozen storage microbiological changes in fish and seafood are minimal.

Frozen mackerel mince blocks without glazing lost 35% of its initial weight when stored at -18 C for 80 days.
Frozen mackerel

The Mackerel family

One of the major important segment of seafood industry in the United States is that which processes fishes of the mackerel family including the various tuna, the Atlantic mackerel, the jack mackerel and the Spanish mackerel.

Mackerel are no less plentiful in Baltic, North Sea, German Ocean, and all along the Scandinavian coasts, though its appearance is always erratic, since it is migratory in its habits.

Tuna are torpedo-shaped fish torpedo to a pointed nose and a slender caudal peduncle (the portion near the tail).

The more important species tuna include the bluefin, the yellowfin, the skipjack, and the albacore.

All mackerel are slim, cylindrical fish with razor sharp teeth that feed on smaller fish and squid.

Mackerel are much smaller than tuna, but they are similar shaped.

They are prized for their stay meat and their fighting ability and are important commercial and game fish.

Mackerel is one of the prettiest fish there is and one of the tastiest, cheapest and still most plentiful.

Apart from that it is small in size, the color being a steel blue, striated with undulating bands of black, while the belly is of a lustrous white, reflecting a bright silvery sheen when first take from the water.

In general, mackerel is very high in calories and fat and high in cholesterol, potassium, phosphorus and vitamin D and B12.
The Mackerel family