Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus maculates)
Description
The body is elongated and strongly flattened from side-to-side. They are green above with silver sides, heavily marked with oval yellow or golden-olive spots. This species closely resembles the cero in color, however the spots on the cero are arranged in a row and the cero has 1 or 2 longitudinal stripes that are the same color as the spots. Both species have a pronounced black spot on the front of the dorsal fin.
Size
Spanish mackerel can grow to 27 inches long and 12 pounds, although the average is less than one-third of that. Smaller fish are more common inshore.
Habitat
They prefer open water but can be found over grass flats and reefs near the surface.
Range
The species forms immense, fast-moving, surface schools that are distributed from New York to Mexico depending on the temperature of the water, with 68°F being the preferred minimum. Schools occur off North Carolina in April, off Chesapeake Bay in May and off New York in June. In late summer and early fall, they move slowly southward to spend the winter and early spring along Florida’s southern coast. Unlike the king, Spanish mackerel do not appear to move freely around the Florida Keys. This creates two separate populations, one in the Gulf and the other off the southeastern states.
