Family : Carangidae
Text © Giuseppe Mazza
English translation by Mario Beltramini
Trachinotus falcatus is present in the western Atlantic Ocean tropical waters from Massachusetts to Caribbean and Brazil © François Libert
Trachinotus falcatus (Linnaeus, 1758) belongs to the class of the Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fish, to the order of the Perciformes or of the Carangiformes after the taxonomists, and to the family of the Carangidae, rich in about 30 genera and 150 species. These are marine fishes having a body generally compressed on the sides, fast-swimming predators, common in the tropical waters but present also in the Mediterranean with species of modest size and prize, as are the European horse mackerel or Common scad (Trachurus trachurus) and the Pompano (Trachinotus ovatus), or massive like the Greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili) that may reach the length of 190 cm and the weight of 80 kg, coveted prey for the game fishermen and gourmets.
The genus Trachinotus, created by Lacépède in 1801, originates from the Greek “tracys”, coarse, and “noton”, back, with reference to the 6-7 short spines preceding the 18-21 soft rays of the first dorsal fin, more evident in the juveniles, because later on they are hidden by the skin making themselves visible only when they are straightened.
It mainly moves along the coasts in shallow waters on sandy or muddy bottoms looking for clams, crabs, small shrimps and fishes but reproduces offshore © www.carlosestape.photoshelter.com
The specific term falcatus, sickle-shaped in Latin, conversely evokes the shape of the dorsal and anal fins having very long anterior lobes.
Zoogeography
Trachinotus falcatus is present in the tropical waters of western Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts up to the Caribbean and Brazil.
Ecology-Habitat
It is a fish moving mainly in small shoals along the coasts, without generally going below the depth of 36 m, and reproduces offshore.
It may reach 149 cm and 36 kg, but current size is 94 cm. To note the yellowish shade on the lower abdomen and the black spot at times present on sides © www.carlosestape.photoshelter.com
It is found on the sandy or muddy seabeds looking for clams, crabs, small shrimps and small fish, sometimes in such shallow waters that the sickles of the dorsal fins protrude from the waves.
The juveniles form large schools by the mouth of the rivers in brackish waters and in the backwash zones where they feed on zooplankton and on benthic invertebrates.
Morphophysiology
Trachinotus falcatus may reach 149 cm and 36 kg, but the current size is 94 cm.
The adults colour is silvery, grey-bluish up to iridescent blue towards the back, sometimes with an oval dark dot centered on the sides © Karine Marangon
The profile of the body, high and flat, roundish in the juveniles, gets longer while growing.
The head is blunt, with small conical and curved small teeth absent in the young. On the other hand, we note on the tongue some solid granular teeth for crushing, against the bony pharyngeal plats, the shells of mollusks, the carapaces of the crustaceans and the sea urchins.
The anal fin has 2-3 spiny rays and 16-18 soft; the pectoral ones, shorter than the head, have 17-20 rays and the caudal is deeply bifurcated for fast swimming.
The adults’ colour is silvery, grey-bluish up to iridescent blue towards the back, at tims with one dark oval spot centered on the sides. The pectoral, anal and caudal fins are blackish.
In juveniles, initially with dark livery, we note the 6-7 dorsal rays that have given name to the genus. Then livery lightens and the small rays are raised only for defense © Todd Gardner – © www.carlosestape.photoshelter.com – © George H. Burgess
The livery of the juveniles is changeable with dark initial shades tending later towards solver and we note well the spines of the dorsal that have originated the genus.
Ethology-Reproductive Biology
Trachinotus falcatus is active during the day.
The males reach sexual maturity when about 2,3 years old, when they measure 486 mm, the females later, when about 3,1 years old and 547 mm, the reproduction may take place all over the year, with a peak during the summer months.
Eggs and larvae are entrusted to currents and young grow in dense groups, feeding on plankton in very shallow waters in the backwash zones © pittatours
Among its main predators causing massacres in the schools of juveniles in shallow waters we have the Barracudas (Sphyraena barracuda) and various sharks not fearing the shallows, such as Carcharias taurus, Negaprion brevirostris and Sphyrna lewini, without forgetting the birds of prey like the Fish hawk (Pandion haliaetus) who grab them with ease attracted by the dorsal arches.
Trachinotus falcatus is very fished in the Caribbean, with seines or trawl nets, and about Florida they talk of 68 tons of catches in 2000 that then, luckily, in 2002 have reduced to 10,4.
Nowadays there are laws to also limit the catches of the game fishermen who, after the souvenir photo, usually release the prey as an award of combativeness.
Unluckily, however, on the hook is often attached only half of bleeding fish or the head, because the patrolling sharks have devoured the rest.
Here Barracudas and sharks careless of shallows wait for them. And the Fish hawk, seeing the emerging dorsal arches, attacks them from above © jenniferf4 left © taarnersuaq
The flesh of Trachinotus falcatus is excellent but in some locations, when it’s a matter of big fishes who have stored for years in their tissues the toxin present in preys contaminated by the dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus, can be at ciguatera, a severe food poisoning, risk.
The resilience of the species is mediocre with a possible doubling of the populations in 1,4-4,4 years and the fishing vulnerability, moderate marks 42 on a scale of 100.
Since 2025, Trachinotus falcatus consequently appears in the IUCN Red List of the endangered species as “LC Least Concern”.
Synonyms
Labrus falcatus Linnaeus, 1758.
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