Atlantic saury

Saury ( Scomberesox saurus )

The saury ( Scomberesox saurus ) is a very slender, predatory marine fish that lives close to the water surface in swarms.

Features

He is more than half a meter long, but usually remains at a length of 30 centimeters. The body is long and slender, extending to the beak-like jaws. Dorsal and anal fin sit far back on the body and face each other symmetrically. Between them and the forked tail fin is 5-7 small Flössel find. By Flössel the saury are easily distinguished from the similar garfish.

Subspecies and distribution

There are two subspecies,

• The nominate form, the Atlantic saury ( Scomberesox saurus saurus ) ( Walbaum, 1792), which occurs in the northeastern Atlantic from Iceland and Norway on the British Isles to the northern and western Baltic Sea and the coast of Morocco and in the Mediterranean. In the northwestern Atlantic, he lives on the St. Lawrence Gulf to North Carolina and Bermuda.
• Scomberesox saurus scombroides ( Richardson, 1843), which occurs in the South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean between 30 ° and 40 ° south latitude, on the east coast of Africa and South America but far to the north goes up over the equator.

Way of life

The saury lives in shoals close to the sea surface above a depth of 30 meters. The fish undertake long migrations. See S. saurus pulls in summer far to the north and can also reach the Barents Sea. Mackerel pike feed on zooplankton ( small crustaceans, including krill ) and small fish, fish larvae and fish eggs. To escape their predators, especially dolphins, porpoises, gannets, tunas, marlins, the blue fish and the cod they jump out of the water. Saury spawn in the open ocean. The eggs have threadlike filaments with a diameter of 2 mm. The hatching larvae are still without elongated beak jaw. This only grows in the development of young fish.

Use

Saury are caught with driftnets and fishing. Its economic importance is low.