Amberjacks in the Med

[Adrian]

I've been seeing amberjacks where I dive recently. They are small, averaging 35 to 40 cm. They are pretty friendly, letting me get to about a meter sometimes - (when in a school). If these small ones are around, are there any larger ones in the area as well or are they more pelagic, found in deeper waters?

What are your experiences with these fish?

Adrian

Here's a slightly blurry pic:

 

[Murat]

Well...
Sometimes i see this sized or a bit smaller AJ swimming in a school of 2-5. I generaly see them when i enter the water. Just 3-4 meter of water. But never saw bigger ones after these.

 

[Memo]

murat whar does amberjack means in our language?

 

[Murat]

Mineri veya avcý balýðý.

 

[Memo]

"Avcý balýðý" is also used for "akya" in our country is this the same with AJ??

 

[Murat]

Yes.

 

[rigdvr]

positive on the ID? Definately of the jack family but are we talking about greater amberjack, lesser amberjack, banded rudderfish, or one of the others. Doesnt look quite like a AJ to me...maybe a different species than our?

 

[rigdvr]

heres a small greater amberjack

 

[rigdvr]

heres a bigger one

 

[rigdvr]

sorry about the size of the pic...never claimed to be a comp. genius Can one of the mod's please adjust the size...

 

[Adrian]

Hi Mike,
Here's the fishbase info:
http://ichtyonb1.mnhn.fr/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Seriola&speciesname=dumerili

and the pictures:
http://ichtyonb1.mnhn.fr/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.cfm?ID=1005

Here I find that some of the amberjacks don't have the yellow stripe that I suppose gives them their name and some do. But - for example- the fish on the yellow board is the same one as in my picture.

I'm pretty sure it's a juvenile greater amberjack that comes in to feed close to shore, the larger ones remaining further out at sea. Sometimes there are slight differences within the same species that give rise to confusion. But I'm no expert. I just wish to be able to see ones the size you have!

Adrian

 

[Adrian]

Here's a detail from the shot, showing the amber stripe through the eyes. Sorry it's so blurry, I was shooting wide open at a 30th of a second. Hopefully next week I'll get better shots.

Adrian

 

[rigdvr]

those things are so hard to tell apart. The only way to positively ID a greater from a lesser or a banded rudderfish is counting the rays and gill rakers according to a biologist friend...regardless we need to find you the big ones b/c nothing pulls quite like a big AJ!

How deep are you seeing those small jacks? Here I dont even look for them in less than 120' or so and really like water about 150+. We are lucky enough to have many oil rigs in that depth so finding the structure is easy(they are very structure oriented). In the keys we dove a wreck in that depth and the AJ would come up to about 30' below the surface. Do you have many wrecks or coral heads in that depth? Maybe a hump or mound?

 

[Murat]

Hey Mike, i am interested in with AJ too. We don't have here oilrigs. May be few wrecks but i don't know any. I want to know are those AJ prefer bottomless bluewater or deep rocky reefs ? ? ?

 

[Adrian]

Here they are shallow visitors. Three - four meters next to walls and rocks. They seem to like to hug the shore. I only dive to about 70 feet (so far) But once I'm ready I'll take a flight to Orlando (went to college at Rollins in Winter Park) to see old friends and then skip over to you for a roller-coaster ride on an AJ!

We don't have coral heads but do have wrecks and certainly mounds. Once I get better at diving it will be interesting to check them out.

Adrian

 

[frogman]

Adrian,

You are probably right. I think the school of fish is "greater amberjack" (Seriola dumerlii). I have experience with the Med and Florida and I do not think the other species (lesser AJ, banded rudderfish, yellow jack, horseye jack, jack crevalle, etc) exist in the Med. It is common to see schools of smaller AJ in the shallows in the Med but the "jumbo" ones usually only come in May-June to spawn. Otherwise they are found in deep water, structure, etc. BTW, we do not spear AJ's in South Florida. Too many worms...

Angelos

 

[Murat]

World record Jack Crevalle had been shot in France with wong uno gun, am i right?

 

[rigdvr]

Murat...aj's are really a reef fish as thet almost always are assoiciated with structure. In fact here we call them "reef donkeys" b/c of how damn stubborn they are. Bigger ones tend to prefer deeper water but they are often found in the upper part of the water column over the structure. On deep wrecks it is akin to b/w hunting as I like to dive 40 or so feet and wait for them to come up to check me out.

 

[sturgeon]

Murat,

If you're talking about the IUSA World Record it was shot by a Frenchman using a Wong Ono gun but he took that fish in North Carolina, USA. He got it on a tower in about 50' of water. They get monster AJs up in VA, NC way in very shallow water (90-100 lbr's in 40 ft of water). Frogman's right though, most of us don't shoot them down here in S. FL. They are considered a trash fish and are also usually full of worms. Our club record is an 82 lb'r taken a couple months ago in about 70' of water by Mike Damms who happens to be the USA Rob Allen importer. Not a bad fish considering he took it with a 110cm RA (Euro style gun) with a single band, single wrap of line and a 7mm shaft with a Tahitian flopper.

Scott T.

 

[Memo]

I think we are talking about this fish...

we have big ones in our waters as well