The White Trevally is a species in the family of the Carangidae and thus belongs to the superclass of bony fish. Pseudocaranx Dentex was first described by Bloch and Schneider in 1801.
It has a lot of common names such as Araara, Blue Trevally, Blurter, Bruised-face Trevally, Cavalley, Crevalley, Guelly Jack, Jack, Jackfish, Longsnout Trevally, Pig Ulua, Ranger, Silver Bream, Silver Fish, Silver Travally, Skipjack Trevally, Skippy, Thicklipped Jack, Toothed crevally, Toothed Trevally, Trevally, White Kingfish.
Description, Anatomy & Characteristics
The White Trevally has a long-stretched, high-backed and laterally, strongly compressed body. Their basic colouration is silver, with the back, anus and tail fins having darker areas. Their bright yellow tail-, back-, after- and pectoral fins are giving their name. In addition, a yellow stripe runs from their gill lids to the beginning of the caudal fin. The intense yellow colouring seems to fade with increasing age. Another good feature to identify is a blurry black dot over the gill lids.
Both back and anus fins are of Pseudocaranx Dentex are longer in the beginning than to the rear end.
Its sideline run in the front third almost in the semicircle and towards the end rather straight.
The White Trevally will reach a maximum size of 122cm. The maximum weight published so far is 18, 1kg.
Habitat, occurrence and distribution
Pseudocaranx Dentex lives in a wide variety of environments. They are found both on rocky and sandy ground, in medium depths and in shallow water. It can be seen between 1 and 240m depth.
When diving in the Canaries you can actually observe it around all 7 islands on a regular basis.
Their distribution area is very large. It occurs in the tropical to temperate zones of all three oceans. In the eastern Atlantic, you can see the White Trevally from the Azores over Madeira, the Cape Verde, Ascension and St. Helena. In the western Atlantic, it is spread from North Carolina along the American coast, through Bermuda to Brazil. In the Indo-Pacific area you can observe it in South Africa, Japan, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand.
Lifestyle, Nutrition & Reproduction
Pseudocaranx Dentex feeds on other fish, plankton, algae and invertebrates.
Its maximum known age is 49 years.
The young fish of the White Trevally live mostly in protected areas, in shallow water. Adult animals can also be seen in shallow bays, but also on reef structures in deeper waters. It usually lives in schools. However, it is also possible for them to swim around alone.
In the case of studies in the Azores, the gender ratio was close to 1:1. The fish reached a sexual maturity at about 30cm. The reproductive period is from June to September. During the reproduction, they release small amounts of eggs for several weeks. These live pelagic.
References