Skipjack Tuna

At a glance

Skipjack Tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) is an IUCN Least Concern bony-fish species regulated in 6 of 66 jurisdictions tracked by CatchRules across the U.S. and Canada.

The strictest bag limit is 2 (Washington); the most generous is 100 (Tennessee).

Confirmed by 28 research-grade iNaturalist observations, with Hawaii, Florida, and Alaska the top jurisdictions by observation count.

Notable details

• Skipjack is the world's most commercially harvested tuna species and the primary fish in most canned tuna products.
• Schools in enormous open-ocean aggregations of thousands of individuals, often mixed with other tuna species.
• Like all tunas, it is endothermic and maintains body temperatures above the ambient seawater.
• Can reach about 1 meter in length, though most adults weigh under 10 kilograms.
• Found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide and rarely ventures into cold water.

Where Skipjack Tuna are seen

• Hawaii15 iNat obs
• Florida4 iNat obs
• Alaska3 iNat obs
• California3 iNat obs
• Texas2 iNat obs
• South Carolina1 iNat obs

Jurisdictions with rules for Skipjack Tuna

• FloridaUnited States · official source
• New JerseyUnited States · official source
• TennesseeUnited States · official source
• WashingtonUnited States · official source

Background

The skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, is a medium-sized perciform fish in the tuna family, Scombridae. It is otherwise known as the aku, arctic bonito, mushmouth, oceanic bonito, striped tuna, or victor fish. It grows up to 1 m (3 ft) in length. It is a cosmopolitan pelagic fish found in tropical and warm-temperate waters. It is a very important species for fisheries.

Background excerpt adapted from Wikipedia's Skipjack Tuna article (CC BY-SA). Visit Wikipedia for the full entry.

Other bony fish on CatchRules

• Rainbow TroutOncorhynchus mykiss
• PumpkinseedLepomis gibbosus
• Northern PikeEsox lucius
• Moorish IdolZanclus cornutus