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Bar jack Facts

Bar jack Facts
Bar jack is marine fish that belongs to the horse mackerel family. It can be found in tropical and subtropical waters of Atlantic ocean. Bar jack inhabits coastal waters, areas near the coral reefs and lagoons. It spends most of its life on a depth of around 60 feet (it can be occasionally found on a depth of nearly 328 feet). Bar jack is popular among anglers. Even though this fish can be used in human diet, most people avoid it due to increased risk of ciguatera poisoning (poisoning induced by protozoan toxins accumulated in flesh of bar jack). Bar jack is numerous and widespread in the wild (it is not on the list of endangered species).
Interesting Bar jack Facts:
Bar jack can reach 15 to 23 inches in length and up to 15 pounds of weight.
Bar jack has grayish-silver body with prominent golden-brown or blackish line that stretches from the snout to the bottom lobe of the tail. Dark line is often accompanied by neon-blue line. Juveniles have 6 dark bars which merge into single line when they reach length of 2.36 inches.
Bar jack can change color of the body into bronze or black, when it feeds on the bottom of the sea.
Bar jack has large eyes, moderately pointed snout, elongated, horizontally symmetrical body and forked tail.
Jaws of bar jack are filled with numerous slender teeth arranged in narrow bands. Upper jaw contains additional row of enlarged, recurved teeth.
Bar jack hunts during the day (diurnal animal). It relies on the eyesight to find food.
Bar jack is a carnivore (meat-eater). It searches food in the midwater and close to the sea floor. 90% of bar jack's diet is based on fish such as gobies, butterflyfish, filefish and blennies. It also occasionally consumes crustaceans and cephalopods.
Bar jack usually forages in large schools.
Bar jack often follows puddingwife wrasse to facilitate detection of prey. This unusual companionship is beneficial for both species.
Bar jack is not sedentary fish. It is fast swimmer which frequently changes its location.
Natural enemies of bar jacks are mackerels, marlins, dolphins, sea birds and humans.
Spawning of bar jacks takes place from March to August. Hundreds of bar jacks gather in the spawning areas and release reproductive cells directly into the water. Females are able to produce 67.00 to 231.000 eggs per season.
Fertilized eggs float on the surface of the ocean until they hatch. Larvae grow fast during the first three months of their life. They hide in dense mats formed by Sargassum (brown algae) and feed on zooplankton until they become large enough to consume fish.
Young bar jacks inhabit shallow reefs, until they reach sexual maturity at the age of 3 to 4 years.
Lifespan of bar jack is unknown.


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