Species: Oligoplites saliens, Castin leatherjack
lower gill rakers 17-20
Oligoplites saliens (Bloch, 1793)
Castin leatherjack
Elongate, very compressed; upper head profile straight, lower profile convex; lower jaw expanded, with strongly convex profile; mouth extends past eye; upper jaw with a single row of small teeth; lower jaw of adults with 2 rows of conical teeth; lower gill rakers (excluding rudiments) 17-20; dorsal rays IV free spines (rarely V)+I, 20-21; anal rays II+I, 19-20; posterior 11-15 dorsal and anal soft rays forming semi-detached finlets; pectoral short (< head length); tail base slender; tail strongly forked; lateral line slightly arched over pectoral fin, but mainly straight; scales needle shaped, partly buried; no scutes on lateral line.
Blue green above, dark along top of body; sides silvery, suffused with orange or golden olive blotches below; front lobe of 2nd dorsal dark; tail fin with dark base, rest of fin amber
Size: grows to 50 cm.
Pelagic; inshore over soft bottoms; marine and estuarine.
Depth: 0-18 m.
Honduras to Brazil.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine
- Brackish
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
-
- Mid Water
- Bottom
- Bottom + water column
- Surface
- Near Surface
- Habitat
-
- Estuary
- Sand & gravel
- Beach
- Water column
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- FishBase Habitat
-
- Bentho-Pelagic
- Feeding Group
-
- Carnivore
- Planktivore
- Data
- Diet
-
- Zooplankton
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Bony fishes
- Egg Type
-
- Data
- Pelagic
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
-
- Greater Caribbean non-endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Regional Endemism
-
- Continent only
- Continent
- GC non-endemic
- Also in Brazil
- Extends South of GC
- Residency
-
- Resident
- Climate Zone
-
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- IUCN Red List
-
- Not evaluated / Listed
- CITES
-
- Not listed
- Length Max
-
- 50
- Depth Range Min
-
- 0
- Depth Range Max
-
- 18
