Rainbow Runner, Elagatis bipinnulata
Rainbow Runner, Elagatis bipinnulata. Fish caught in coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, November 2011. Length: 60 cm (2 feet 0 inches).
Rainbow Runner, Elagatis bipinnulata. Fish caught from coastal waters off Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, June 2021. Length: 62 cm (2 feet 1 inch). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Luke Ovgard, Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Rainbow Runner, Elagatis bipinnulata. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters off Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, November 2017. Photograph courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.
The Rainbow Runner, Elagatis bipinnulata, is a member of the Jack or Carangidae Family, and is known in Mexico as arcoiris and macarela salmón. It is the only global member of the genus Elagatis, and it is found in Mexican waters of both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
The Rainbow Runner has an elongated fusiform body that taper at both ends that has a depth that is 21% to 25% of standard length. They are dark olive-green to blue dorsally and white ventrally. They have 2 narrow light blue or bluish-white horizontal stripes along their sides straddling a broad olive or yellowish stripe. Their fins have an olive or yellow tint. Their head and snout are pointed. They have a small mouth that opens at the front and ends well before the eyes. Their anal fin has 1 standalone spine followed by 1 spine and 18 to 20 rays following by 2 standalone rays; their caudal fin is deeply forked; their first dorsal fin has 6 spines; their second dorsal fin has 1 spine and 25 to 28 rays; their pectoral fins are short; and, their pelvic fins have 1 spine and 5 rays. Their soft anal fin base is significantly shorter than their soft dorsal fin base. They have 6 or 7 gill rakers on the upper arch and 15 to 20 fill rakers on the lower arch. Their body is covered with small oval scales. Their lateral line has a slight arch anteriorly.
The Rainbow Runner is a pelagic species found in the epipelagic zone in and around coral and rocky reefs in large schools from near the surface to depths up to 149 m (490 feet). They reach a maximum of 1.8 m (5 feet 11 inches) in length. As of January 1, 2024, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 17.05 kg (37 lbs 9 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters off Clarion Island in November 1991. They feed on crustaceans, small fish, and squid. Reproduction occurs via the release of pelagic eggs spawned during the summer. The Rainbow Runner 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 Rainbow Runner is a wide-ranging and circumtropical species found in the Atlantic Ocean and western and eastern Pacific Ocean. In Mexican waters they are a resident of all waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean; in the Pacific they are limited to the tip of the Baja, Baja California Sur, throughout the Sea of Cortez, and along the coast of the mainland south to Guatemala.
The Rainbow Runner can be confused with the Rainbow Chub, Sectator ocyurus (wider body) and the Jack Mackerel, Trachurus symmetricus (lacks blue stripes).
From a conservation perspective the Rainbow Runner 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 with hook and line, gill nets and seines at a level of 20,000 tons per year and marketed fresh and dried-salted and considered to be excellent table faire. They are a by-catch of the tuna fishery. They are caught infrequently by recreational anglers but considered to be an excellent sportsfish.