Common mackerel. Horse mackerel Black Sea fish. Description, features and habitat of horse mackerel New Zealand horse mackerel

general information

Horse mackerel

Horse mackerel fish belongs to the Stavrididae family and unites several species of important commercial fish under one name. In total, the Stavrid family includes about 150 species of fish, and only four of them are eaten and caught on an industrial scale. Horse mackerel belongs to the group of pelagic fish that lead a schooling lifestyle.

There are such types of mackerel fish as:

The common horse mackerel or Trachurus, a genus of predatory fish that lives in sea waters.
The yellowstripe or Selaroides leptolepis is a small, schooling fish that lives in the seas.

Spring view

In representatives of the horse mackerel family, the body is laterally compressed, but its shape can be different. Thus, the common horse mackerel has a very elongated, spindle-shaped body, covered with small scales. Horse mackerel has 2 fins on its back. The first of them, the front and short one, has spines ranging from 3 to 9. The rear and long fin has soft feathers ranging from 18 to 37 pieces.

The color of mackerel is interesting, which can range from light silver to gray-blue. There are also peculiarities in the structure of horse mackerel fish. The body of the fish is elongated, as a rule, does not exceed 35 cm in length. Horse mackerel has a sawtooth comb, which serves as a protective weapon for the fish against other predators. The largest specimen of mackerel fish reached 70 cm in length and weighed 2 kg. This is truly a record for a fish whose weight rarely exceeds 500 grams.

Lifestyle

Horse mackerel fish

Horse mackerel is a schooling pelagic fish that is a predator. The basis of the diet is zooplankton. Sometimes individuals use benthic and benthic invertebrate organisms such as shrimp as food. It adheres to the mackerel of the continental shelves, occasionally reaching the slopes of the depths. Its larvae, as well as juveniles, often swim in schools and hide from other predatory fish under the domes of jellyfish.

Spreading

Horse mackerel fish is common along the coastlines of countries such as Bulgaria, Great Britain, USA, Turkey and France. Horse mackerel can also be found in the Pacific and Indian oceans, the Japanese and Mediterranean seas. IN Russian Federation Horse mackerel fish is caught on an industrial scale in the Baltic or North Seas.

Horse mackerel fishing

Horse mackerel fish is very capricious in terms of fishing; it is not as easy to catch as it might seem at first glance. When catching this fish, it is necessary to pay very important attention to the quality of the tackle. If the fishing rod is of poor quality or made carelessly, for example, it has an inappropriate weight, the length of the leash does not meet the standards, or an unsuitable hook, then you are unlikely to be able to enjoy the catch. Therefore, it is advised to approach the preparation of hooks very carefully; they must be properly tied, accurately tinned.

Family Stavridae

When mackerel is more large sizes, it is less whimsical in catching. Its fishing is more stable; the hook and line, in this case, can be selected in larger dimensions. From August to April there is a very good bite of small-sized horse mackerel, although it is worth noting that the rest of the time the bite remains at a fairly good level.

Especially excellent fishing occurs when the wind changes and there is a small wave on the water. For example, on the Caucasus coast in the first half of the day the wind blows from the sea to the shore, and in the evening everything happens the other way around. Typically, the sunnier the day, the greater the fluctuation in temperature between water and land and the stronger the wind blows. In the first half of the day and in the second, the wind changes its direction.

In the morning, when the earth warms up and the wind weakens, and then completely calms down later certain time blowing from the water side, the best bite begins. As for the depth at which mackerel fish are caught, it is difficult to accurately name this figure, since it happens that it grabs the hook on the move, not allowing it to fall. But more often it is caught at the bottom.

If we take statistical data, we can see that this fish lives in all layers of the sea, starting from great depths, which reach sixty-five meters and up to the very top layers. It is noteworthy that when a school of fish rises from the lower layers to the top, it creates a sound very similar to the noise strong wind. At such moments, she is unsurpassedly caught in

The Black Sea mackerel Trachurus mediterraneus ponticus is a small subspecies of the Mediterranean Trachurus mediterraneus.

This is a Black Sea fish a few minutes after being caught near Gurzuf.
Photo: http://egenika.gallery.ru/

A decrease in the size of individuals in a part of the population that, in one way or another, ends up in a body of water with a smaller volume of water - even if it is quite large in itself - is practically a biological law.
Similarly, the Mediterranean anchovy was crushed in the Black and Azov Seas into anchovy, the Atlantic herring in the Baltic was transformed into a subspecies of Salak, and the smelt, stuck after they were separated from the Baltic Sea, in Ladoga and Onega degenerated into smelt.
At the same time, the new subspecies differ from the original species in taste - due to the different composition of the water of the reservoir that gave them shelter and the differences in it species composition food base.

Having settled in the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic some thousands of years ago, and then colonized the Black Sea, the horse mackerel has already reached Moscow. In size it is not inferior in the capital yet, but in quality compared to freshly caught fish it is quite obvious

the lens has become cloudy - and ideally the eyes should be clear, as in the first photo.

But I fell in love with it so much when I lived in Crimea - which was still Ukrainian, and therefore cosmopolitanly common - and I miss it so much that I bought one, with a clouded lens.
Moreover, in the first time after the heroic annexation of the peninsula, horse mackerel was offered in the capital for 1 thousand rubles per kg - and now I saw it at the market on Prazhskaya for 250 rubles: Muscovites probably didn’t understand it, they didn’t try it, but they are catching it now in Crimea, without regard to any norms of the maximum permissible seizure, and this overfishing needs to be sold somewhere.

The horse mackerel's intestines turned out to be empty, so I didn't gut the fish - and didn't even rip off the tail scutes

although for the sake of pomp it would be necessary.

So, without scraping out the tail stems, and placed it on a well-heated frying pan.

Only I even overheated the oil - and the delicate skin immediately burst.

But this is even good: because it is better that these prickly shields do not get into the mouth - so the skin would still have to be removed. In general, it’s a blast anyway

But no matter how much I was in a hurry to eat the fried horse mackerel with cold beer, I immediately put some of it aside and dry-salted it with Extra salt

I place the carcasses crosswise in an enamel container, and a bag - or even two - to make the pan easier to wash later.

And a day later he poured a stream cold water under the tap: washed off the remaining salt

and opened it across the back.

It turned out just great

Some of the lightly salted ones were eaten immediately, and a few pieces were dried: hung inside the refrigerator on straightened paper clips, clinging to the shelf bars. They hung for 6 days. I took off the hanged ones - but not yet dried: the skin is dry and taut, and the flesh inside is elastic

Just before eating - and admiring - you need to remove the skin. Use a knife blade to hook it at the base of the dorsal fin and remove it first from one side and then from the other.
And if you don’t remove it, with the shields that stretch along the side line, you can not only scratch your lips, hurt your throat, but also simply choke

Muscles shine with fat

It's incredibly delicious, I haven't been this happy in a long time.
I just salted it by eye - so I can’t tell you how much salt to put on 1 kg of fish.
It needs to be lightly salted.
Yes, and one more thing: beer, wine and vodka are not required - although they are usually wonderful in themselves - and I really like lightly salted fish with sweet black coffee and a hot egg in a bag.

And these are the scutes on the caudal peduncle that I wrote about above - which you can’t eat, and they definitely need to be torn off

This is an important systematic feature of the family. Carangidae/syn. Horse mackerel, which also includes horse mackerel, and every time I am surprised how people manage not to notice them - and confuse horse mackerel with a completely obvious and fundamentally different smooth-sided mackerel.
Well, if you are already in Crimea, try both: it is clear that there, freshly caught, they are even tastier than those brought to Moscow.

The blue runner, as the tarahun is also called, is one of the most... fast fish in the waters of the World Ocean. Moreover, it develops maximum speed from the start. If you are not prepared, then when an adult tugs on the hook, you can easily part with the spinning rod.

The recommendations given in this article are not about learning how to hold the rod tightly, but about how to make the horse mackerel make such intriguing bites more often. What gear and bait are needed for this, and where to look for this fish, this will be discussed in this review.

1.General description of fish

Tarahun– a predatory fish, belongs to the class of ray-finned fish, the horse mackerel family. Translated from Greek - rough tail.

Commonly used names among fishermen around the world are blue runner, common warrior, deep sea trooper, and crystal tail.

More names in other languages:

Spanish - chicharro, jurel, escribano;
English - horse mackerel;
Catalan — sorell

There are approximately 150 species of horse mackerel.

The Ecoplanet encyclopedia describes in detail the varieties of ray-finned birds. In illustrated form you can see the differences between the cockroach and its other relatives https://zelenyjmir.ru/stavrida/.

In terms of numbers, 5 species are most common:

Ordinary.
South.
Mediterranean.
Japanese.
Peruvian.

This article will focus on the Mediterranean horse mackerel. It is also called the Black Sea mackerel, which lives in the Marmara, Black, Mediterranean and Azov seas, as well as in the Atlantic Ocean.

Tarahun has an oblong body, pelvic fins longer than the dorsal ones. In terms of body proportions, there is a large head and mouth. There are small teeth. Hard tail, wedge-shaped. The color of the back is gray-blue, the belly is silvery. The sides of the trolus are covered with bone spines, which serve as protection from large predators: tuna, amberjack, herring and mackerel.

Tarahun leads an active lifestyle, so he does not have excess fat. The anatomy of its body: the size of its fins, strong tail, scales and bony scutes located in the opposite direction, is created in such a way that it allows it to reach speeds of up to 80 km/h.

Most often confused with two fish - Caranx ruber

Caranx bartholomaei

A distinctive feature is the absence of black spots on the gills.

2. Distribution and habitats of horse mackerel

Multi-species horse mackerel is distributed in all waters of the World Ocean. Individual schools can be found in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but in large numbers, they live in the North and Black Seas.

Tarahun is primarily a coastal fish, although it can often be found among reefs and rapids at a depth of 100 meters or more. Oil and gas platforms attract his attention. Results of marine aquaculture: artificial reefs, human-grown algae.

The first year of its life, horse mackerel lives in a shelter - under the dome of a jellyfish. As seen in this video

During this period, it feeds mainly on zooplankton.

3. Age and size

Life expectancy is 9 years. Reaches a body length of 70 cm.

4. Lifestyle

Leads a semi-predatory lifestyle. Mainly stays on the mainland shallows in search of food. Most often it can be found at a depth of 50 - 300 meters. In cold weather, horse mackerel migrates to the warm waters of Africa and Australia.

Behavior of a school of horse mackerel in a 2-minute video

4.1. Reproduction - time and characteristics of spawning

Peak spawning occurs from June to August.

4.2. Diet - what does mackerel eat?

Benthic and benthic invertebrates. Fish: sardines, anchovies. Crustaceans: shrimp, crabs, lobsters and crustaceans.
There are known cases of eating dolphin excrement.

5. How, where, when and what to catch mackerel

Fishing is carried out from the shore and from floating craft, in almost any weather. Both artificial and natural baits are used.

5.1. Biting calendar - at what time of year the horse mackerel bites best

Spring, summer and autumn.

5.2. What weather is the best time to bite?

In any weather, except for a strong storm.

5.3. What are the best places to fish?

Places where there are a lot of fry, the presence of algae, in rocks.

5.4. What gear is best for catching horse mackerel?

If we talk about the quantity of mackerel, then not a single tackle can be compared with the tyrant. Works exceptionally in or around a joint. With such equipment you can catch hundreds of kilograms, so there are no special equipment. Everything that comes up in the form of tackle for mackerel involuntarily reminds everyone of the well-known tyrant.

The main methods of fishing are nets, tyrants, and spoons. The spoon works especially well in the evening or at night.

Experiment - whose tyrant works better for horse mackerel. Watch carefully so as not to repeat mistakes in the flaws of poorly performing equipment

Watch the assembly of a tyrant with your own hands using loop knitting

Each person chooses a spinning rod for catching horse mackerel for himself. But the important criterion still remains - the lightness, sensitivity and strength of the rod. The test is selected according to the weight of the intended equipment. The length of the “stick” should not exceed 2.40 meters. 2000 coils - oh, that will be more than enough.

5.5. Baits for catching horse mackerel

Glass balls inside the wobbler give it a sound effect. The aerodynamic shape allows you to throw this product over a long distance, with minimal throwing force.

The Corsair wobbler showed positive results when catching cockroaches

See his behavior in water in a 1-minute video

According to fishermen, the Komomo Slim wobbler performed excellently when catching horse mackerel.

When fishermen communicated on forums and shared their results, many of them noticed that they had to catch successfully on. “This product is made in the likeness of a small, nimble fish. With such a wobbler, the wiring should be fast.

The jig lure showed itself successfully when catching tarahoon. It is also called a “blank” because of its heavy weight.
A universal product when choosing wiring. The main ones are:, and.

See horse mackerel in the Black Sea from a boat. Catchy jigs shown in close-up

From a pier in Crimea, catching horse mackerel with jigs, watch in this video

5.7. How does a mackerel peck

Aggressive biting style.

5.8. How to fish correctly. — Basic techniques

Catching cockroaches from the pier in Nice, Italy

Playing from the shore with silicone. Stepped wiring

Catching blue runner from shore in rough seas

5.9. The most important moments

Hold the rod tightly and always be prepared for a sharp bite from horse mackerel.

6. Interesting, unusual, funny facts about this fish

Due to the fact that the tarahun's favorite places are various kinds of artificial shelters, including oil structures and islands made of all kinds of garbage, mercury is found in its head. For this reason, it is not recommended for pregnant women and children. Scientists have a lot of confusion about this in their treatises. But most likely, the reason lies in eating this waste, which contains chemical substances the entire periodic table.

There are also known cases of human horse mackerel poisoning. Adults are infected with biological poison -. The reason is that the cockroach, while eating its daily food in the bottom thickets, simultaneously swallows poisonous fish. And thus he carries this poison within himself. Which, by the way, is not harmful to him.

Tarahun is often used as bait in fishing and for the aquarium trade.

Horse mackerel plays an important role in the world's waters. It is important for commercial fishing. In addition to being a predator itself, it also serves as food for larger predatory fish, birds and dolphins.

7. Gastronomy

The meat is tender and appetizing, without small bones. Contains a lot useful vitamin. Many different delicious dishes are prepared from horse mackerel.

How to properly cut tarahun for sushi, watch this video

Cutting a trolus with scissors under a tap

8. Useful links

— a detailed article about horse mackerel fish;

http://forum.israfish.com/viewtopic.php?t=14463 - discussions by members of the Israeli fishing forum about the different names of mackerel fish.

What kind of fish is horse mackerel? How does she look? Let's look at the photo of horse mackerel, and then carefully read its description... Horse mackerel, as a prominent representative of the perciforme order, has a body length of up to 50 cm, and a weight of no more than 400 g.

Horse mackerel is characterized by a spindle-shaped shape and a thin tail stalk.

The horse mackerel has a number of lateral bony scutes along the entire length of its body. In total, the Carangidae family includes about 140 subspecies of fish of various sizes.

In nature, there are individuals from 20 cm to 2 meters in length. Horse mackerel is an important species of commercial fish.

In Hebrew, horse mackerel sounds like “tarakhon” or “tarilos”. In a store, it is extremely difficult to determine what species a fish frozen on the counter is. Mediterranean waters contain only three species of horse mackerel, but the annual catch of this fish is significant. For example, in 2004, as many as 80 tons of true horse mackerel were caught in the waters Mediterranean Sea.

The common horse mackerel lives in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the North, Mediterranean and Black Seas. The Mediterranean horse mackerel is most often found in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, from there it migrates to the Atlantic. Ocean mackerel, on the contrary, moves from Atlantic waters to Mediterranean waters.

Common horse mackerel is a commercial fish species, and very tasty, by the way.

The common horse mackerel has a slightly elongated body, slightly flattened on the sides. Sharp scutes along the barrels distinguish horse mackerel from other fish species. They live in flocks and can live up to 9-10 years. In history, cases of catching 2-meter horse mackerel have been recorded. But most often their length does not exceed 50 cm. The main food for horse mackerel is zooplankton, fry, crustaceans and cephalopods.

More than 10 species of horse mackerel are found in the subtropical waters of the World Ocean. These schooling fish can travel long distances during seasonal migrations. Eggs and even fry of mackerel can be preserved for a long time under the dome of jellyfish.

The main areas for catching mackerel, since the times of the USSR, are the waters of the Baltic, Black, Azov and Japanese seas. About 4 species of horse mackerel live in these seas.

Horse mackerel - belongs to the predatory fish, lives in sea waters, belongs to the class of ray-finned fish, the horse mackerel family.

The fish has a characteristic rough tail, which is arranged in a wedge shape.

Description of horse mackerel

Horse mackerel is a small fish, it is only 40 cm long and weighs from 280-370 grams. Individual, larger horse mackerel can weigh as much as a kilogram. There were cases when fishermen caught horse mackerel weighing more than one and a half kilograms.

Most often in nature, horse mackerel is small in size. The body of the fish is more elongated with small scales. Bones with sharp spines are located on the sides of the back, most often they are turned backwards.

Spikes are all a fish has to protect itself from predators. On average, horse mackerel can live no more than 8 years.

Types of horse mackerel

The total number of species of such fish does not exceed 10. Let us name the main types of horse mackerel:

Common horse mackerel

The fish lives in the waters of the Atlantic, in the North and Black Seas, in the coastal waters of Argentina, Africa, and also in the Mediterranean Sea.

This type of horse mackerel lives in schools, each fish reaches 47 cm in length and weighs about one and a half kilograms.

Mediterranean horse mackerel

It happens this type in the eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean, as well as in the Mediterranean and Marmara seas. Horse mackerel can be from 25-55 cm long. The sides of the fish’s body are covered with bony shields.

The back of the horse mackerel is gray with a blue tint, the belly is white with silver inclusions.

Mediterranean horse mackerel is found in schools, and in one school there are fish of completely different sizes.

This type of fish consists of two subspecies, namely the Mediterranean mackerel and the Black Sea.

Southern horse mackerel

It is found in the Atlantic Ocean mainly off the Brazilian, Uruguay, and Australian coasts. The fish is also found in New Zealand, but in smaller quantities. The body of this type of fish is no more than 60 cm long.

The horse mackerel is distinguished by a large head and a large oral cavity; there are 8 spines on the first fin in the back area. The fish lives at a depth of 250-300 m.

Japanese mackerel

It lives in the waters of Japan and South Korea, and larger numbers can be seen in the China Sea. In autumn, fish swim to the shores of Primorye.

The length of the Japanese mackerel is only 37 cm. It lives at a depth of 100 - 250 meters.

Where is horse mackerel found?

The main habitat of horse mackerel is the Northern, Black and Mediterranean seas, where it is found in large quantities. Small schools of fish can also be found in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Certain species of fish are found in the waters of Argentina and Australia.

Horse mackerel can swim quite quickly and is found at a depth of no more than 300 meters. With the onset of cold weather, mackerel sails to warmer places, mainly to the waters of Australia and Africa.

Only five species of horse mackerel are found in Russian waters. Horse mackerel fishing in the Black Sea is carried out during the period when the fish stops spawning.

What does mackerel eat?

Horse mackerel is considered predatory fish, it eats small fish plankton, crustaceans and shrimp.

The main delicacy of fish is the caviar of pelagic fish. The fish spends less of its time at depth; it mainly hunts by swimming closer to the surface of the reservoir.

How do fish spawn?

A distinctive feature of the fish from many of its relatives is the fact that the fish spawns in warm waters tropical countries almost all year round. In the warm season, horse mackerel prefers to lay eggs in mid-latitude waters.

Horse mackerel is considered the most prolific fish; it can lay from one and a half thousand to two hundred thousand eggs at a time.

As soon as the fry emerge from the eggs, before reaching one year of age, they attach themselves under the dome of the jellyfish, thus escaping from predators. Young fish also eat zooplankton.

How is horse mackerel caught and prepared?

Many people wonder how to catch horse mackerel. Fishermen set nets in the waters, since fish are found in schools and immediately fall into the net a large number of fish.

Horse mackerel meat is not fatty, very tender without large bones.

The fish has a specific taste, it tastes a little like water, and also has a certain sourness. You can buy horse mackerel frozen or fresh.

Fish is versatile in preparation; it can be marinated, stewed, fried, dried or smoked. Delicious, rich soups are prepared from horse mackerel, as well as all kinds of cold appetizers and sandwiches.