Atlantic Bumper, Chloroscombrus chrysurus

Atlantic Bumper, Chloroscombrus chrysurus. Fish caught from within Jetty Park, Cape Canaveral, Florida, January 2022. Length: 16 cm (6.3 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of James Lafontaine, Long Island, New York.

Atlantic Bumper, Chloroscombrus chrysurus. Fish caught off the Gulf Shores Pier, Gulf Shores, Alabama, June 2023. Length: 17 cm (6.7 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.

Atlantic Bumper, Chloroscombrus chrysurus. Fish caught off the Tybee Pier, Savannah, Georgia, October 2009. Length: 23 cm (9.1 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Kenneth Tse, Toronto, Canada.

Atlantic Bumper, Chloroscombrus chrysurus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Sebastian, Florida, May 2021. Length: 23 cm (9.1 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, Sebastian, Florida.

The Atlantic Bumper, Chloroscombrus chrysurus, is a member of the Jack or Carangidae Family, and is known in Mexico as horqueta del Atlántico. Globally, there are two species in the genus Chloroscombrus, both are found in Mexican waters, one in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific Ocean.

The Atlantic Bumper has a strongly compressed oval body with a ventral profile that is more convex than the dorsal profile and a body depth that is 38% to 42% of standard length. Their appearance is more “pompano-like” than “jack-like”. They are dark metallic blue dorsally and transition to silvery ventrally. They have a black spot on the upper border of their gill cover and a black saddle on their upper tail base. Their fins are yellow with the exception of the pelvic fins which are white. Their head has a very short snout with a blunt tip and a small oblique mouth that extends past the front of their eyes. Their anal fin has 2 standalone spines followed by 1 spine and 25 to 28 rays; their caudal fin has a slender base and is deeply forked and an upper lobe that is longer than the lower lobe; their first dorsal fin has 8 spines; their second dorsal fin has 1 spine and 25 to 28 rays; and, their pectoral fins are curved and longer than the head. They have 9 to 12 gill rakers on the upper arch and 30 to 37 gill rakers on the lower arch. They have a pronounced lateral line with a short anterior arch and 5 to 15 scutes on their caudal fin base. Their body is covered with scales.

The Atlantic Bumper is a pelagic species found in large schools in shallow coastal lagoons and estuaries from the surface to depths of 107 m (350 feet). They reach a maximum of 33.5 cm (13 inches) in length. They feed on cephalopods, detritus, fish and zooplankton. Juveniles are common in brackish estuaries and can be found well offshore and often associated with jellyfish. The Atlantic Bumper is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Atlantic Bumper is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Caribbean.

The Atlantic Bumper is most likely confused with the Bluntnose Jack, Hemicaranx amblyrhynchus (lower profile not convex).

From a conservation perspective the Atlantic Bumper is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are caught primarily as a by-catch of trawls and seines and by hook and line. They are not fished commercially. They are utilized fresh, frozen, smoked, dried-salted for human consumption and in fish meal, fish oil, and pet food. They are one of the most abundant and unexploited species in the Gulf of Mexico.