The skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) is a medium-sized perciform fish in the tuna family, Scombridae. It is otherwise known as the balaya (Sri Langka), bakulan/kayu (North Borneo), tongkol/aya (Malay Peninsula/Indonesia), cakalang (Indonesia), katsuo, arctic bonito, mushmouth, oceanic bonito, striped tuna or victor fish. It grows up to 1 m (3 ft) in length. It is a cosmopolitan pelagic fish found in tropical and warm-temperate waters. It is a very important species for fisheries.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
⚠ sources differ — AnAge: 18 975 g · FishBase: 34 500 g
Life cycle & reproduction2
Age at sexual maturity1 095 days
Max. longevity144 months
Habitat & environment2
Habitat saltwateryes
Habitat zonepelagic-oceanic
Uses & economy1
Commercial importancehighly commercial
Other traits3
Depth max260 m
Depth min0 m
Vulnerability38.12
03Chemical composition123 compounds
Compounds documented for Katsuwonus pelamis across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
🍽 Used in cookingAquatic foods
Compound class profile5 classes
Aminoacids28
Cryptophycins $ Depsipeptides28
Dialkylresorcinols21
Cyclic peptides8
pteridine alkaloids8
Documented compounds123 total
Compound
Class
Amount
Source
L-Glutamic acid
4,210 mg/100g
FooDB
L-Aspartic acid
2,888 mg/100g
FooDB
epsilon-Polylysine
2,590 mg/100g
FooDB
L-Leucine
2,293 mg/100g
FooDB
L-Alanine
1,706 mg/100g
FooDB
Arginine
1,688 mg/100g
FooDB
05DNA & barcoding303 specimens
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Katsuwonus pelamis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens303
BINs1
Marker genes14
eDNA detections365
Countries28
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P652 bp consensus264 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 99% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 4 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens. Showing the 28 commonest of 62 variants.
Diversity (π)0.55%
Haplotypes62
BIN1
Most divergent pair10.0%
N.AmericaAsiaAfricaOceaniaOtherS.America
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
▸ Tap any coloured segment — or a gene chip — to see what it is
◖ violet arc = the COI-5P barcode — the ~650 bp read used to ID this species
Pick a coloured segment on the ring — or a gene chip — to read what that gene does.
protein-codingrRNAtRNA
06Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI
The complete instruction manualKatsuwonus pelamis carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size889 980 000 bp
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
THIS GENOME Katsuwonus pelamis0.89 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Chromosomes2n = 48 n = 24
Chromosome-count records — grouped by value · 2n = full set, n = gamete · click a value for sources & references
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
Assembly levelChromosome
07Deep time~8.11 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin8.11 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
How it livedPBDB
Motilityactively mobile
Compositionhydroxyapatite
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type135 559 records
Wild obs. + sensor42 747
Museum / vouchered1 848
Other90 964
Origin
Native58
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO72 420 km²
Depth
0–200 m sunlit4 235
200–1000 m twilight629
1–4 km midnight746
>4 km abyssal2
median 42.2 m · max 4 600 m · 5 612 records with depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy27% within 1 km
≤100 m 686≤1 km 225≤10 km 170>10 km 2 259
3 340 georeferenced · 39 407 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor42 747
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy11% within 1 km
≤100 m 36≤1 km 43≤10 km 245>10 km 410
734 georeferenced · 1 114 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 848
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions20 of 54 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Sydney, AU
182
Tapachula, MX
101
Cambridge, US
83
Washington, US
82
University of California San Diegolocation not on record
19
SEAOBISlocation not on record
18
University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record
17
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
15
Kagoshima University Museumlocation not on record
15
North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record
10
Copenhagen, DK
9
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Unidad Académica Mazatlán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Méxicolocation not on record
8
Los Angeles, US
6
National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korealocation not on record
6
Chicago, US
6
Wuzhou, CN
5
Paris, FR
5
Toronto, CA
5
CASlocation not on record
5
FishBaselocation not on record
4
DOI/NPS, Salem Maritime National Historic Sitelocation not on record
4
South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record
4
No Voucherlocation not on record
4
Stockholm, SE
3
Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras José Benito Vives de Andréis (INVEMAR)location not on record
3
Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciêncialocation not on record
3
Vancouver, CA
3
Australian National Fish Collectionlocation not on record
2
Academia Sinica, Biodiversity Research Centerlocation not on record
2
El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Unidad Chetumallocation not on record
2
Auckland, NZ
2
Honolulu, US
2
Deutsches Zentrum fuer Marine Biodiversitaetsforschunglocation not on record
2
San Nicolás de los Garza, MX
2
Cincinnati, US
2
Zoologisches Museum Hamburglocation not on record
2
Smithsonianlocation not on record
1
Natick, US
1
Museum national d'Histoire naturellelocation not on record
1
UWFClocation not on record
1
Food Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisherieslocation not on record
1
IEO-COMA-CSIClocation not on record
1
Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Veracruzana, Región Poza Rica-Tuxpanlocation not on record
1
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
1
New Haven, US
1
Mexico City, MX
1
UFESlocation not on record
1
Royal Museum for Central Africalocation not on record
1
Puerto Ayora, EC
1
Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record
1
DASSHlocation not on record
1
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Oceanologylocation not on record
1
QVMAGlocation not on record
1
Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacionallocation not on record
1
54 institutions · 661 of 1 848 vouchered records shown · 210 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA365 detections
Where the DNA of Katsuwonus pelamis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found365
Studies independent surveys3
Countries28
Verifiable raw sequence linked2
Signal confidence: moderateweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 365 detections have coordinates
Open the map28 countries0
Reef drop off
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median25.2 °C 8.40–26.6
Seasonal swing summer↔winter3.40 °C
Max temp (day)26.0 °C 11.2–28.0
Min temp (night)24.3 °C 5.80–25.8
Precipitation53.1 mm/mo 33.4–154
Air humidity60.9 % 59.4–66.3
Vapour deficit1,263 Pa 385–1,307
Cloud cover30.0 % 21.0–50.7
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 221 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation19 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility30 439 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System105 120 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI365 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics303 specimens↗
FooDBThe Metabolomics Innovation Centrecompounds↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗