Pacific jack mackerel
Trachurus symmetricus (Ayres, 1855)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
School of Pacific Jack Mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus). Taken at Santa Catalina Island, California.
Aleph1 · CC BY 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Pacific jack mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus), also known as the Californian jack mackerel or simply jack mackerel, is an abundant species of pelagic marine fish in the jack family, Carangidae. It is distributed along the western coast of North America, ranging from Alaska in the north to the Gulf of California in the south, inhabiting both offshore and inshore environments. The Pacific jack mackerel is a moderately large fish, growing to a maximum recorded length of 81 cm, although commonly seen below 55 cm. It is very similar in appearance to other members of its genus, Trachurus, especially T. murphyi, which was once thought to be a subspecies of T. symmetricus, and inhabits waters further south. Pacific jack mackerel travel in large schools, ranging up to 600 miles offshore and to depths of 400 m, generally moving through the upper part of the water column.
Wikipedia contributors, Pacific jack mackerel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:38:12.704502+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Trachurus symmetricus (Ayres, 1855)
- Name authority
- (Ayres, 1855)
- Common name
- Pacific jack mackerel
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Carangiformes
- Family
- Carangidae
- Genus
- Trachurus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCarangiformes
- familyCarangidae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusTrachurus Rafinesque, 1810
- speciesTrachurus symmetricus (Ayres, 1855)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Trachurus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese horse mackerelTrachurus japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844) | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| rough scadTrachurus lathami Nichols, 1920 | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Crozet scadTrachurus longimanus (Norman, 1935) | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chilean jack mackerelTrachurus murphyi Nichols, 1920 | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Trachurus novaezelandiae Richardson, 1843 | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| blue jack mackerelTrachurus picturatus (Bowdich, 1825) | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cunene horse mackerelTrachurus trecae Cadenat, 1950 | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cape horse mackerelTrachurus capensis Castelnau, 1861 | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| greenback horse mackerelTrachurus declivis (Jenyns, 1841) | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| African scadTrachurus delagoa Nekrasov, 1970 | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Arabian scadTrachurus indicus Nekrasov, 1966 | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mediterranean horse mackerelTrachurus mediterraneus (Steindachner, 1868) | CarangidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Trachurus picturatus symmetricus (Ayres, 1855) (Ayres, 1855) | synonym |
| Decapterus polyaspis Walford & Myers, 1944 Walford & Myers, 1944 | synonym |
| Trachurus symmetricus symmetricus (Ayres, 1855) (Ayres, 1855) | synonym |
| Caranx symmetricus Ayres, 1855 Ayres, 1855 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=273305 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:57PL4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.