Bigeye Scad, Selar crumenophthalmus
Bigeye Scad, Selar crumenophthalmus, Juvenile. Fish collected from coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, April 2012. Length: 2.6 cm 1.0 inch).
Bigeye Scad, Selar crumenophthalmus, Juvenile. Fish caught from coastal waters off Long Island, New York, August 2022. Length: 7.9 cm (3.1 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of James Lafontaine, Long Island, New York.
Bigeye Scad, Selar crumenophthalmus, Juvenile. Fish provided by the commercial bait salesmen of Puerto Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, August 2019. Length: 14 cm (5.5 inches).
Bigeye Scad, Selar crumenophthalmus. Fish provided by the commercial bait salesmen of Puerto Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, July 2014. Length: 27 cm (11 inches).
The Bigeye Scad, Selar crumenophthalmus, is a member of the Jack or Carangidae Family, that is also known as the Purse-eyed Scad and and in Mexico as charrito ojón and caballito (little pony). Globally, there are two species in the genus Selar, one of which is found in Mexican waters, this species that is present in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
The Bigeye Scad has a moderately compressed elongated fusiform body that are wide in the middle and taper at both ends and have a depth that is 27% to 31% of standard length. Their eyes are disproportionately large (after which they are named) and are covered with a fatty eyelid. They are metallic blue to blue-green dorsally and white ventrally. Most fish have a yellow stripe that runs mid-flank from their gill cover to the upper part of their caudal fin base. Their mouth ends in front of the eyes. Their anal fin has 2 standalone spines followed by 1 spine and 21 to 23 rays and has a long base and is set behind the dorsal fin; their caudal fin is deeply forked and has a slender base; their first dorsal fin has 8 spines; their second dorsal fin has 1 spine and 24 to 27 rays and a long base; and, their pectoral fins are longer than their head. They have 9 to 12 gill rakers on the upper arch and 27 to 37 gill rakers on the upper arch. They are covered with small scales. Their lateral line has a long low arch with 29 to 42 scutes.
The Bigeye Scad is a pelagic schooling species found in large inshore schools and in estuaries over sandy bottoms at depths up to 171 m (560 feet). They reach a maximum of 30 cm (12 inches) in length. As of January 1, 2023, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 0.45 kg (1 lb 0 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters of Hawaii in June 2017. They are vertical and horizontal migrators feeding on small invertebrates, foraminifers, and shrimp at night when inshore and move to deep waters during daylight hours to feed on zooplankton and fish larvae. The Bigeye Scad 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 Bigeye Scad is a resident of Mexican waters of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In the Atlantic they are found throughout the Gulf of Mexico and along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Caribbean. In the Pacific they are found in all Mexican waters they are found in all Mexican waters with the exception that they are absent from Guerrero Negro, Baja California, northward along the central and northwest coasts of Baja.
The Bigeye Scad cannot be easily confused with any other species.
From a conservation perspective the Bigeye Scad is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are one of the most famous species in Mexican waters due to its local name of Cabalito (little pony) and utilized primarily as fly-lined live bait for large game fish as they survive bait tanks well. They are not a first selection of Los Cabos pangueros and will generally be used when nothing else is available. They are caught primarily by cast nets but they are also accessible predawn via hook and line with Sabiki rigs. Commercially they are caught with beach seines, purse seines, traps and trawls at a level of 200,000 to 300,000 tons per year and marketed fresh or dried salted. They are considered quality food fish and are a substantial food source within all tropical Asian countries. They are also utilized in fish meal and fish oil.