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Species: Caranx ruber, Bar jack

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blue stripe: along top back to lower C lobe, with
31-38 lower gill rakers

Caranx ruber (Bloch, 1793)

Bar jack

Body elongate, moderately deep, moderately compressed in adults; top jaw not or just reaching under eye; both jaws with a band of small simple teeth; 31-38 lower gill rakers; pectoral fins longer than head; dorsal (VIII + I, 26-30) and anal (II+I, 23-26), front lobes of both dorsal and anal fins slightly raised; no finlets after 2nd dorsal and anal fins; tail base slender; tail strongly forked; straight rear part (but not curved front part) of lateral line with 29-39 scutes (large, hard spiny scales); tail base with a pair of keels on each side.

Silvery, tinted light blue above; a blue stripe from snout along top of back then down along lower edge of lower lobe of tail fin, that bordered above by a black stripe from under the origin of the second dorsal to the tail tip; juvenile with ~6 dark bars on body.

Reaches 69 cm, 6.8 kg.

Found in clear water habitats, both around the edges of reefs and over soft and seagrass bottoms.

Depth range: 0-155 m.

New Jersey to Brazil.


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Salinity
  • Marine
  • Marine Only
Inshore/Offshore
  • Inshore
  • Inshore Only
Water Column Position
  • Surface
  • Bottom + water column
  • Bottom
  • Near Bottom
  • Near Surface
Habitat
  • Sand & gravel
  • Submerged vegetation
  • Water column
  • Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
FishBase Habitat
  • Bentho-Pelagic
  • Reef Associated
Feeding Group
  • Carnivore
  • Planktivore
  • Data
Diet
  • Data
  • Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
  • Bony fishes
  • Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
  • Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
  • Zooplankton
Egg Type
  • Data
  • Pelagic
  • Pelagic larva
Global Endemism
  • West Atlantic Endemic
  • Greater Caribbean non-endemic
  • All species.
Regional Endemism
  • Extends North of GC
  • Continent
  • Also in Brazil
  • Island (s)
  • Continent + Island (s)
  • All species..
  • Extends N + S of GC
  • Extends South of GC
  • GC non-endemic
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • Temperate (>35N)
  • Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
  • Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
  • Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
IUCN Red List
  • Listed
  • Least concern
CITES
  • Not listed
Length Max
  • 69
Depth Range Min
  • 0
Depth Range Max
  • 155