Yellowtail, Seriola lalandi
Yellowtail, Seriola lalandi. Fish caught from coastal waters off Newport Beach, California, October 2015. Length: 28 cm (11 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, Peoria, Illinois.
Yellowtail, Seriola lalandi. Fish caught from coastal waters off Palmilla Point, Baja California Sur, January 2011. Length: 86 cm (2 feet 10 inches).
Yellowtail, Seriola lalandi. Fish caught from coastal waters off Las Barilles, Baja California Sur, January 2020. Length: 1.09 m (3 feet 7 inches); weight: 10 kg (22 lbs). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chip Shapley, Los Barilles.
Yellowtail, Seriola lalandi. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters off San Diego, California, November 2017. Photograph courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah. Identifications courtesy of Dan Fuller, San Diego, California.
Yellowtail, Seriola lalandi. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters off San Diego, California, Hawaii, November 2017. Photograph courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.
Yellowtail, Seriola lalandi. Underwater photographs taken in coastal waters off Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Baja California Sur, October 2019. Photoz courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.
The Yellowtail, Seriola lalandi, is a member of the Jack or Carangidae Family, that is also known as the Yellowtail Jack and in Mexico as medregal rabo amarillo or simply yellowtail. There are nine global members of the genus Seriola, of which six are found in Mexican waters, three in the Atlantic, two in the Pacific, and this species which is found in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
The Yellowtail has an elongated compressed fusiform body that are wide in the middle and taper at both ends and have a depth that is 20% to 24% of standard length; their body has an aerodynamic shape with similar upper and lower profiles. They are blue on their upper back and flank and silvery to white on their belly. They have a narrow bronze stripe along the middle of their body that transitions to yellow posteriorly. Their fins are yellow. Their head has a long pointed snout and their mouth ends under the front edge of the pupils. Their anal fin has 2 isolated spines followed by 1 spines and 19 to 22 rays; their caudal fin has a slender base with a fleshy keel on each side and is deeply forked; their first dorsal fin has 7 or 8 spines with a short base; their second dorsal fin has 1 spine and 30 to 35 rays; and, their pectoral fins are very short. They do not have isolated scutes or finlets after their second dorsal and anal fins. They have 7 to 10 gill rakers on the upper arch and 15 to 20 gill rakers on the lower arch. Their lateral line has a slight arch over the pectoral fin.
The Yellowtail is a pelagic species found offshore in large schools at depths up to 300 m (985 feet). They reach a maximum of 1.57 m (5 feet 2 inches) in length and 49.5 kg (109 lbs) in weight. As of January 1, 2024, the International Game Fish Association world record for length stood at 1.33 m (4 feet 4 inches) with the fish caught from coastal waters off Japan in November 2016. The corresponding world record for weight stood at 49.5 kg (109 lbs) with the fish caught in coastal waters also off Japan in October 2009. The Yellowtail 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. They are currently the focus of extensive scientific research.
The Yellowtail is a wide-ranging and circumglobal species found from British Columbia to Peru, including in all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean.
The Yellowtail is a close relative of the Amberjack, Seriola rivoliana (less aerodynamic; no body stripe; diagonal stripe through eye) and is similar in size and shape to the much smaller Fortune Jack, Seriola peruana (short snout; mouth ending under pupil; no bars or stripes on head or body; dark fins; overall bronze appearance). This species is sometimes confused with a much larger subspecies, Seriola lalandi lalandi which resides in the South Pacific Ocean.
From a conservation perspective the Yellowtail is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are a target of both commercial and recreational fishermen. Commercially they are caught by hook and line, seines and bottom trawls and marketed fresh or salted. They are a major sportsfish, especially in northern Mexican waters of the Pacific but are quite rare and highly seasonal in the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, showing up occasionally during periods of sub-21oC (70oF) water temperatures and five been known to disappear for periods in excess of 5 years.
Length versus Weight Chart: A Yellowtail Weight From Length Conversion Table is included in this website to allow the accurate determination of a fish’s weight from its length and to hopefully promote its rapid and unharmed return to the ocean.
