Caranx latus
Horse-Eye Jack
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Carangidae (Jacks)
Caranx
Caranx latus (Horse-Eye Jack)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Elongate and moderately compressed body; relatively short second dorsal fin; completely scaled chest; bony scutes on straight portion of lateral line; dorsal profile of head evenly convex; snout bluntly pointed; eye with adipose eyelid; maxilla extends to or behind posterior margin of eye; jaw teeth in narrow bands with outer row enlarged and recurved; preopercular margin smooth in specimens > 40 mm SL; 6 or 7 lathlike gill rakers on upper limb and 16 to 18 on lower limb; 7 branchiostegal rays; pectoral fin falcate with 19 to 21 rays; first dorsal fin with 8 spines; second dorsal fin with 1 spine and 19 to 22 rays; anal fin with 2 free spines followed by 1 spine and 16 to 18 rays; lateral line with 84 to 92 scales, last 32 to 39 of which are scutes; caudal peduncle with 2 keels; 24 vertebrae (10 precaudal, 14 caudal)
Dark blue to bluish green dorsally and silvery white to golden ventrally; dorsal fin lobe and occasionally posterior scutes dark to black; juveniles with 5 dark bars on body
Distribution
Tropical and warm temperate Atlantic; in the western Atlantic from New Jersey and Bermuda to Brazil, including the entire Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Antilles
Entire Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Continental and insular shelves; brackish and freshwater with connections to the sea
Biology
Shrimps, other invertebrates (including pteropods), and especially ray-finned fishes
About 800 mm TL
A pelagic (Ref. 26340) schooling species usually found in offshore reefs (Ref. 9710). Juveniles are encountered along shores of sandy beaches, also over muddy bottoms (Ref. 9626). May penetrate into brackish water and ascend rivers. Adults feed on fishes, shrimps, and other invertebrates (Ref. 3277). Often approach divers (Ref. 9710). Eggs are pelagic (Ref. 4233).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2018-11-09. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish; aquarium: commercial.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Berry 1959
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968
Randall 1968a
Randall 1996
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Cervigón 1993b
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Castro-Aguirre et al. 1999
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Smith-Vaniz 2002c
Randall, J.E. (1967) Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. Miami 5:665-847.
Smith-Vaniz, W.F. (1986) Carangidae. p. 815-844. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO, Paris. vol. 2.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Randall, J.E. (1996) Caribbean reef fishes. Third Edition - revised and enlarged. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Hong Kong. 3nd ed. 368 p.
Willoughby, S., J.D. Neilson and C. Taylor (1999) The depth distribution of exploited reef fish populations off the south and west coasts of Barbados. Proc. Gulf Caribb. Fish Inst. 45:57-68.
IGFA (2001) Database of IGFA angling records until 2001. IGFA, Fort Lauderdale, USA.
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