{{Short description|Genus of ray-finned fishes}} {{Redirect|Saurel|people with this name|Saurel (surname)|the angel of death in Mandaeism|Saureil}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Jack mackerels | fossil_range = Eocene to Present<ref>{{cite journal | last = Sepkoski | first = Jack | author-link = | title = A compendium of fossil marine animal genera | journal = Bulletins of American Paleontology | volume = 364 | issue = |page=560 | date = 2002 | url = http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class | doi = | id = | access-date = 2008-01-08 }}</ref> | image = MaAji.jpg | image_caption = Japanese horse mackerel, ''Trachurus japonicus'' | taxon = Trachurus | authority = Rafinesque, 1810<ref name=ITIS>{{ITIS|id=168585|taxon=''Trachurus''|access-date=16 August 2013}}</ref> | synonyms = *''Branchialepes'' <small>Fowler, 1938</small> *''Suareus'' <small>Dardignac & Vincent, 1958</small> | synonyms_ref = <ref name = CofF>{{Cof family|family=Carangidae|access-date=4 December 2019}}</ref> | type_species = ''Scomber trachurus'' | type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758 }}
'''Jack mackerels''' or '''saurels'''<ref name=ITIS/> are marine ray-finned fish in the genus '''''Trachurus''''' of the family Carangidae. The name of the genus derives from the Greek words ''trachys'' ("rough") and ''oura'' ("tail"). Some species, such as ''T. murphyi'', are harvested in purse seine nets, and overfishing (harvesting beyond sustainable levels) has sometimes occurred.<ref>C.Michael Hogan. 2010. [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Overfishing ''Overfishing''. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment]. eds. Sidney Draggan and C.Cleveland. Washington DC. </ref>
It is often used in Japanese cuisine, where it is called ''aji'', in Turkish cuisine, where it is called ''istavrit'', and in Portuguese cuisine, where it is called ''carapau''.
==Species== [[File:とんから亭のアジフライ定食.jpg|thumb|250px|Fried Japanese jack mackerel as part of a ''teishoku'' meal, with miso soup and curry]]
The genus ''Trachurus'' was defined in 1810 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz, who called the type species ''Trachurus saurus''. Taxonomists later determined that ''T. saurus'' was in fact the same species as one described earlier as ''Scomber trachurus'', defined in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus. Under the rules of binomial nomenclature, that species is now known as ''Trachurus trachurus'', commonly known as the Atlantic horse mackerel.
The currently recognized species in this genus are:<ref>{{FishBase genus | genus = Trachurus| month = February | year = 2013}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Scientific name !! Common name !! Distribution |- |120px ||''Trachurus capensis'' <small>Castelnau, 1861</small> ||Cape horse mackerel|| southeastern Atlantic from the Gulf of Guinea to eastern South Africa. |- |120px ||''Trachurus declivis'' <small>(Jenyns, 1841)</small> ||greenback horse mackerel||western and southern Australia, and around New Zealand |- | ||''Trachurus delagoa'' <small>Nekrasov, 1970</small> ||African scad||south western Indian Ocean. |- |120px ||''Trachurus indicus'' <small>Nekrasov, 1966</small> ||Arabian scad||Red Sea and Somalia through the Persian Gulf east as far as Pakistan and south to the Saya de Malha Bank. |- |120px ||''Trachurus japonicus'' <small>(Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)</small> ||Japanese jack mackerel|| Japan, apart from Okinawa Island |- |120px ||''Trachurus lathami'' <small>Nichols, 1920</small> ||rough scad||eastern coasts of North and South America and the Gulf of Mexico |- | ||''Trachurus longimanus'' <small>(Norman, 1935)</small> ||Crozet scad|| east Atlantic and south western Indian Oceans |- |120px ||''Trachurus mediterraneus'' <small>(Steindachner, 1868)</small> ||Mediterranean horse mackerel|| eastern Atlantic from Bay of Biscay to Mauritania, including the Mediterranean Sea. |- | ||''Trachurus murphyi'' <small>Nichols, 1920</small> ||Chilean jack mackerel||south Pacific off the coasts of Chile and Peru, around New Zealand and south Australia, and in a band across the open ocean in between |- |120px ||''Trachurus novaezelandiae'' <small>J. Richardson, 1843</small> ||yellowtail horse mackerel|| Australia and New Zealand |- |120px ||''Trachurus picturatus'' <small>(S. Bowdich, 1825)</small> ||blue jack mackerel||the Bay of Biscay to south Morocco and the western Mediterranean. |- |120px ||''Trachurus symmetricus'' <small>(Ayres, 1855)</small> ||Pacific jack mackerel||western coast of North America, ranging from Alaska in the north to the Gulf of California in the south |- |120px ||''Trachurus trachurus'' <small>(Linnaeus, 1758)</small> ||Atlantic horse mackerel||eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. |- | ||''Trachurus trecae'' <small>Cadenat, 1950</small> ||Cunene horse mackerel|| eastern Atlantic from Morocco south to Angola |- |}
==References== * Fitch JE (1956) [http://www.calcofi.org/publications/calcofireports/v05/Vol_05_Jack_Mackerel_Fitch.pdf "Jack mackerel"] ''CalCOFI Reports'', '''5''': 27–28. {{Reflist}}
{{Mackerel}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q982933}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Trachurus Category:Extant Eocene first appearances Category:Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque Category:Marine fish genera
{{Carangiformes-stub}}