Color of black iridescent bluish green, sides silvery; streamlined body with tapered head; no black pigment on front of the first dorsal fin; lateral line starts high and drops sharply below the second dorsal; young fish often have yellowish spots like those of Spanish mackerel.

NEARSHORE and OFFSHORE; occasionally taken from piers running into deep water.

Common to 20 pounds.

Schooling fish that migrates from south Florida waters in winter to more northerly waters in spring; Gulf population thought to be separate from Atlantic population, with considerable mixing in winter from Cape Canaveral past Key West; spawns in midsummer OFFSHORE; feeds on fish and squid.