Jack Mackerel

Jack Mackerel is one of the most important exploited fish populations in the world. Its area of distribution covers the sub-tropical waters of the South Pacific Ocean, from South America up to New Zealand and even Australia.

Jack Mackerel lives in the productive waters of upwelling zones, where deep nutrient-rich seawater is brought to the surface by the prevalent currents. Jack Mackerel feed in these zones and form massive schools that are heavily exploited by commercial fisheries. The fishing nations of the world have captured Jack Mackerel in such large numbers in recent years that there are now international treaties in place to manage these fishing activities among multiple countries.

Jack Mackerel are filter feeders that eat fish larvae and small, pelagic crustaceans. Though they filter very small prey, they use their relatively large eyes and strong eyesight to increase the density of prey in the water that they filter. This strategy is in stark contrast to that used by the very large-bodied filter feeders (like whale sharks and basking sharks, which essentially feed blindly and rely on large volumes of water to obtain sufficient prey.

This species reproduces via broadcast spawning, where several females release their eggs and several males release their sperm into the water column at the same time. This method increases the likelihood that eggs will become fertilized and increases the genetic variability in the population. As it can be very common and form massive schools, the Chilean Jack Mackerel is an important prey species for large fishes, seabirds, marine mammals, and other predators.

Jack Mackerel tastes similar to canned sardines. It may be used interchangeably with salmon or tuna in recipes. Jack Mackerel is an oily, dark flesh fish that whitens on cooking. It is a good source of Omega-3. It is very popular in the African market.