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Australian Wildlife

  Mackerel Tuna (Euthynnus affinis)





Mackerel Tuna | Euthynnus affinis photo
Mackerel Tuna

Image by Robbie N. Cada (former FishBase staff member) - License: Public Domain.    (view image details)







MACKEREL TUNA FACTS

Description
The Mackerel Tuna is a silver fish with a distinctive pattern of broken diagonal stripes on the upper sides of the body and two or five dark spots above the pelvic fin. It is a streamlined fast-swimming fish with crescent shaped tail. It forms schools with other species of tuna and mackerel, with numbers from 100 to over 5,000 fish.

Other Names
Kawakawa

Size
length to 1m

Habitat
found in coastal and offshore waters. Young may enter bays and harbors. Depth range 0m - 200m

Food
small fish such as herring, also squid, crustaceans and zooplankton

Range
The Mackerel Tuna is found throughout the tropical and temperate Indo-West and Central Pacific Oceans. In Australia it is found from the central coast of Western Australia, around the north and down the east coast to southern New South Wales.



Classification
Class:Actinopterygii
Order:Perciformes
Family:Scombridae
Genus:Euthynnus
Species:affinis
Common Name:Mackerel Tuna