name: King Mackerel
flavor_db_name_variants: king mackerel
source: foodb
status: draft
food_db_id: King mackerel
id: 392
name_scientific: Scomberomorus cavalla
description: The king mackerel (Scomberomorus cavalla) is a migratory species of mackerel of the western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. It is an important species to both the commercial and recreational fishing industries. The king mackerel is a medium-sized fish, typically encountered from five to 30 pounds, but is known to exceed 90 pounds. The entire body is covered with very small, hardly visible, loosely attached scales. The first (spiny) dorsal fin is entirely colorless and is normally folded back into a body groove, as are the pelvic fins. The lateral line starts high on the shoulder, dips abruptly at mid-body and then continues as a wavy horizontal line to the tail. Coloration is olive on the back, fading to silver with a rosy iridescence on the sides, fading to white on the belly. Fish under 10 pounds (5 kg) show yellowish-brown spots on the flanks, somewhat smaller than the spots of the Atlantic Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus maculatus. Its cutting-edged teeth are large, uniform, closely spaced and flattened from side to side. These teeth look very similar to those of the bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix.
itis_id: 172435
wikipedia_id: King_mackerel
picture_file_name: 397.jpg
picture_content_type: image/jpeg
picture_file_size: 115991
picture_updated_at: 2012-04-20T09:42:53.000Z
legacy_id: 424
food_group: Aquatic foods
food_subgroup: Fishes
food_type: Type 1
created_at: 2011-02-09T00:37:39.000Z
updated_at: 2019-05-14T18:05:24.000Z
creator_id: null
updater_id: null
export_to_afcdb: false
category: specific
ncbi_taxonomy_id: 13679
export_to_foodb: true
public_id: FOOD00392