The longfin yellowtail, also known as the almaco or silvercoat jack, deep-water, falcate, European or highfin amberjack, rock salmon, longfin or yellow kingfish, is a game fish of the familyCarangidae; they are in the same family as yellowtail and amberjack. They are carnivorous and feed, both day and night, on other, smaller fish such as baitfish and small squid. The flesh is thick and dense, like tuna, and easily may be passed off for white albacore if prepared as sushi.
The longfin yellowtail has a less elongated, more flattened body than most jack species. Their dorsal fin and anal fins are elongated, and their outer edges have a definite sickle shape. The first rays of the almaco dorsal fin's longest parts are nearly twice as long as the dorsal spines, also different from other jacks. They reach a typical length of, sometimes reaching and. Typical catch is approximately ten pounds, however, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which describes it as wide-ranging in small groups and not a common catch. Generally, longfin yellowtails are dusky-colored with faint amber or olive stripes down their sides. Their upper bodies and lower fins usually are dark brown or dark blue-green. The belly is much lighter and appears brassy or lavender. The and most of the fins are dark on adults. Exceptions are the pelvic fins which are white on the :wiktionary:ventral|ventral sides.
Distribution and habitat
The longfin yellowtail is a pelagic species, which are found in open-ocean zones in the vast deep waters beyond the continental shelf. This species may be found in small groups on slopes and off reefs at depths from. They visit wrecks more often than most other jacks do. In the Indian to the west Pacific oceans, almaco jack live from Kenya to South Africa and have been spotted off Mariana Islands, Wake island, Ryukyu Islands, Kermadec Islands, and New Caledonia. In the eastern Pacific, almaco jack live from California to Peru and the Galápagos Islands. In the western Atlantic, they live mostly from Cape Cod to northern Argentina, although they are rare off North and South Carolina. Almaco jack are not so common in the Eastern Atlantic as elsewhere. Almaco live near Great Britain and off Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea. They typically swim at depths ranging from.
Behavior
The unusual stamina of the longfin yellowtail makes them a prime target for sport fishing in deep waters. Almaco jack are subject to skin-based parasites. They remove them by rubbing against the rough skin of passing sharks. They are known to rub against passing scuba divers also, because they mistake them for sharks. These fish spawn as often as weekly throughout the year.
Aquaculture
longfin yellowtails are farmed/ranched in deep water near the Island of Hawaii under the brand nameHawaiian Kanpachi; and in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico under the brand name: Baja Kanpachi, as a domesticated alternative to wild tuna. Global production reached in 2008. Almaco jack are abundant in the wild and never have been harvested commercially on large scale. In 2019, however, application was made to the United States Environmental Protection Agency for approval to conduct a pilot study in coastal waters of USA, on the shallow Florida shelf off the western coast of Sarasota County, which would break the existing ban of such fish farming in USA coastal waters and likely, would lead to efforts to establish commercial-scale development of the industry using almaco jack. The application review is receiving a great deal of public discussion and a hearing is going to be held in late January 2020 in Sarasota. Eating almaco jack may cause a disease in humans called ciguatera, through bioaccumulation of ciguatoxin produced by a microscopic organism called dinoflagellate. However, farmed almaco jack on a controlled diet are free of these dinoflagellates and therefore, do not transmit ciguatera when eaten. These fish have among the best reported feed-conversion ratios ever achieved. With no selective breeding at all, the amount of consumed bait fish required to produce one pound of almaco jack ranges from 1.6:1–2:1, ten times better than the observed ratio for bluefin tuna. The resulting meat has a fat content of around 30%. Typically, they are grown in ring- or diamond-shaped net pens moored to the sea bottom below. The sites chosen are areas that experience currents that mitigate the impact of the waste that the fish drop.
As Food
The flesh of the longfin yellowtail is quite delicious and may be prepared in a myriad of dishes, from completely raw to fully cooked.
