Crevalle Jack, Caranx hippos

Crevalle Jack, Caranx hippos, Juvenile.  Fish caught from within the Indian River Lagoon, Micco, Florida, November 2020. Length: 21 cm (8.3 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, San Diego, California.

Crevalle Jack, Caranx hippos, Juvenile. Fish caught from the Packery Channel Jetty, Corpus Christi, Texas, September 2018.  Length: 22 cm (8.7 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Luke Ovgard, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Crevalle Jack, Caranx hippos. Fish caught from caught from within the Indian River Lagoon, Micco, Florida, November 2020. Length: 28 cm (11 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Josh Leisen (joshadventures.com), Gaylord, Michigan.

Crevalle Jack, Caranx hippos. Fish caught from coastal waters off Sebastian, Florida, November 2021. Length: 62 cm (2 feet 12 inch). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, Sebastian, Florida.

Crevalle Jack, Caranx hippos. Fish caught off the beach of Playa de Carmen, Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo, in April 2012. Length: 94 cm (3 feet 1 inches). Weight: 13 kg (29 lbs). Catch and photograph courtesy of Maurice Kerger, Holland.

Crevalle Jack, Caranx hippos, Juvenile. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters of Yal-Ku, Quintana Roo, April 2016. Photograph courtesy of Juan Rojo, Akumal.

The Crevalle Jack, Caranx hippos, is a member of the Jack or Carangidae Family, and is known in Mexico as jurel común and simply toro. Globally, there are seventeen species in the genus Caranx, of which nine are found in Mexican waters, three in the Atlantic, five in the Pacific and one in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The Crevalle Jack has a moderately compressed deep oblong body with a depth that is 30% to 34% of standard length. They are greenish-blue dorsally and silvery-white to yellow on their lower sides. They have a black spot on their gill covers and a black blotch on the lower corner of their pectoral fin. Their anal and caudal fins are yellowish. They have a blunt snout and fairly small eyes set high on their rounded head. Their mouth is large extending past the eyes and opens at the front. Their anal fin has 2 spines followed by 1 spine and 16 to 17 rays and a raised front lobe; their caudal fin has a slender base and is deeply forked; their first dorsal fin has 8 spines and a raised front lobe; their second dorsal fin has 1 spine and 19 to 21 rays; and, their pectoral fins are longer than the head. They have 6 to 9 upper gill rakers and 16 to 19 gill rakers on the lower arch. They are covered with scales. They have a pronounced lateral line with a moderately long anterior arch with 25 to 35 strong scutes.

The Crevalle Jack is a pelagic species that is found at all depths up to 100 m (330 feet) with larger fish being normally found in deeper waters. They reach a maximum of 1.29 m (4 feet 3 inches) in length and 35.4 kg (58 lbs 6 oz) in weight. As of March 31, 2023, the International Game Fish Association world record for length stood at 1.01 m (3 feet 4 inches) with the fish caught from coastal waters off Central Africa in September 2013. The corresponding world record for weight stood at 30 kg (66 lbs 2 oz) with the fish caught from coastal waters off Angola in June 2010. They are common at 2 feet in length with females being larger than males. Adults travel in schools or as solitary individuals while juveniles travel in large schools. They are an important apex diurnal predator found in all tropical inshore waters preying upon on a variety of fish, shrimp, and invertebrates. In turn they are preyed upon by many surface feeding carnivores, including striped marlins and seabirds. The Crevalle Jack 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 Crevalle Jack is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Caribbean.

The Crevalle Jack is virtually identical to the Pacific Crevalle Jack, Caranx caninus (21-27 gill rakers; 34-43 scutes).

From a conservation perspective the Crevalle Jack is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are targeted by both commercial and recreational fishermen. Commercially they are caught with gillnets, longlines, and beach seines in coastal waters from 10 m (33 feet) to 40 m (131 feet) water off Campeche, Tabasco and Veracruz. The are sold fresh, frozen, smoked, and dried salted but they are considered to be a valued food fish. In addition, larger fish are known to contain ciguatoxin. They are also utilized to produce fishmeal and  fish oil.  For recreational anglers the Crevalle Jack is are one of the most famous species in Mexican waters and known for their strength and are viewed as a “superb light tackle species”. They are commonly used in the aquarium trade.

Length versus Weight Chart: A Pacific Crevalle Jack Weight From Length Conversion Table has been included in this website that can also be used for the accurate determination of a Crevalle Jack’s weight from its length and to hopefully promote its rapid and unharmed return to the ocean. The Crevalle Jack is virtually identical to the Pacific Crevalle Jack, thus this table “works.”