Caranx ignobilis
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Carangidae (Jacks)
Caranx
Caranx ignobilis
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: fusiform / normal. This species is distinguished by the following characters: gill rakers (including rudiments) 5-7 + 15-17 = 20-24; breast naked ventrally, typically with a small to large patch of prepelvic scales; colour in life of adults, head and body silvery grey to black above, usually paler below; fins usually uniformly grey to black, fish from turbid coastal waters often with yellow fins, the anal fin usually brightest (Ref. 9894).
Description: Body oblong and compressed, dorsal profile strongly convex anteriorly, ventral profile slightly convex. Adipose eyelid moderately developed, small anteriorly, posterior adipose eyelid extends onto eye to rear border of pupil. End of upper jaw extends to posterior edge of pupil or a little beyond. Upper jaw with outer row of strong canines widely spaced in adults, and an inner band of small villiform teeth, widest at symphysis; lower jaw with a single row of strong conical teeth widely spaced in adults (Ref. 9894, 90102).
Distribution
Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and east coast of Africa to the Hawaiian and Marquesan islands, north to southern Japan (Ref. 559) and the Ogasawara Islands, south to northern Australia. Hybrid with Caranx melampygus found in Hawaii (Ref. 58422).
Habitat Associations
Brackish, marine. reef-associated. depth range 10-188 m. Found in: estuaries, mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds.
Biology
Adults are pelagic over sand and rock (Ref. 58302). They occur singly and inhabit clear lagoon and seaward reefs (Ref. 9710). They feed on crustaceans (like crabs and spiny lobsters) and fishes at night (Ref. 4887). Juveniles are found in estuaries. Large individuals may be ciguatoxic. The largest trevally reaches 1.7 m in length and a weight of over 60 kg (Ref. 48635). Spawning occurs on shallow seaward reefs and offshore banks (Ref. 37816). Sold mostly fresh and dried salted.
Max length: 170.0 cm TL; common length: 100.0 cm TL; max weight: 80000 g.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2015-03-09. Resilience: Medium (K=0.08-0.11; tm=3.5).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish; aquaculture: commercial; aquarium: public aquariums.
References
Honebrink, R. (1990) Fishing in Hawaii: a student manual. Education Program, Division of Aquatic Resources, Honolulu, Hawaii. 79 p.
Sudekum, A.E., J.D. Parrish, R.L. Radtke and S. Ralston (1991) Life history and ecology of large jacks in undisturbed, shallow, oceanic communities. Fish. Bull. 89:493-513.
Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen and J.E. Hanley (1989) Pisces. Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 7. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 665 p.
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Smith-Vaniz, W.F. (1999) Carangidae. Jacks and scads (also trevallies, queenfishes, runners, amberjacks, pilotfishes, pampanos, etc.). p. 2659-2756. In K.E. Carpenter and V.H. Niem (eds.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Vol. 4. Bony fishes part 2 (Mugilidae to Carangidae). Rome, FAO. 2069-2790 p.
Fricke, R. (1999) Fishes of the Mascarene Islands (Réunion, Mauritius, Rodriguez): an annotated checklist, with descriptions of new species. Koeltz Scientific Books, Koenigstein, Theses Zoologicae, Vol. 31:759 p.
Mundy, B.C. (2005) Checklist of the fishes of the Hawaiian Archipelago. Bishop Mus. Bull. Zool. (6):1-704.
Allen, G.R. and M.V. Erdmann (2012) Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth, Australia: Universitiy of Hawai'i Press, Volumes I-III. Tropical Reef Research.
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