Scomber scombrus
Linnaeus, 1758 · speciesAt a glance
Sources14 archives
Databases and archives Scomber scombrus's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation15 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility146 571 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System331 504 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI114 874 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics470 specimens↗
FooDBThe Metabolomics Innovation Centrecompounds↗
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↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus), also known as Boston mackerel, Norwegian mackerel, Scottish mackerel or just mackerel, is a species of mackerel found in the temperate waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and the northern Atlantic Ocean, where it is extremely common and occurs in huge shoals in the epipelagic zone down to about 200 m. It spends the warmer months close to shore and near the ocean surface, appearing along the coast in spring and departing with the arrival of colder weather in the fall and winter months. During the fall and winter, it migrates out into deeper and more southern water, seeking warmer temperatures. The Atlantic mackerel's body is elongate, steel-blue marked with wavy black lines dorsally and silvery-white ventrally, its snout long and pointed. It possesses two spiny dorsal fins, which are spaced far apart, two pectoral fins, and small caudal and anal fins, also spaced far apart. 4-6 dorsal finlets and 5 anal finlets are typical among members of this species. The fish's body tapers down its length, ending with a large tail fin. Typical size for a mature fish is 30 cm, but individuals have been caught as large as 60 cm. The maximum published weight is 3.4 kg. Reproduction, which is oviparous, occurs near the shore in the spring and summer, during which a female can produce as many as 450,000 eggs. Juveniles reach sexual maturity at around 2 years of age and can live to be 17. A highly commercial species, the Atlantic mackerel is sought after for its meat, which is strong in flavor and high in oil content and omega-3 fatty acids among other nutrients. Nearly 1 million tonnes of Atlantic mackerel are caught each year globally, the bulk of which is sold fresh, frozen, smoked, or canned. Despite its highly commercial status, the Atlantic mackerel is listed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and global catch has remained sustainable.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Life cycle & reproduction3
Habitat & environment3
Uses & economy1
Other traits3
Compounds documented for Scomber scombrus across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds54 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| L-Glutamic acid | 3,559 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| L-Aspartic acid | 2,442 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| epsilon-Polylysine | 2,190 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| L-Leucine | 1,938 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| L-Alanine | 1,442 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| Arginine | 1,427 mg/100g | FooDB |
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 Scomber scombrus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ 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.
The complete instruction manual Scomber scombrus 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
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).
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.
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
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.
How it livedPBDB
Record type478 075 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
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.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions21 of 61 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| The Atlantic reference Centrelocation not on record | 1 297 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 1 291 |
| ICESlocation not on record | 1 069 |
| VLIZ | ILVOlocation not on record | 442 |
| Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientalelocation not on record | 398 |
| Ilvolocation not on record | 334 |
| RWSlocation not on record | 256 |
| ICATMARlocation not on record | 180 |
| Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO)location not on record | 96 |
| 730location not on record | 75 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 74 |
| DASSHlocation not on record | 54 |
| Paris, FR | 49 |
| Cambridge, US | 47 |
| Washington, US | 45 |
| Toronto, CA | 31 |
| Stockholm, SE | 25 |
| Helsinki, FI | 24 |
| Maurice Lamontagne Institutelocation not on record | 23 |
| New Haven, US | 19 |
| 14 | |
| Copenhagen, DK | 13 |
| ISTPM (Ifremer Nantes)location not on record | 12 |
| The Atlantic Reference Centre (ARC)location not on record | 12 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 10 |
| Zoologisches Museum Hamburglocation not on record | 10 |
| South Kensington, GB | 9 |
| NHMOlocation not on record | 9 |
| Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 9 |
| SNSB-Zoologische Staatssammlung Münchenlocation not on record | 8 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 7 |
| ICM-CSIClocation not on record | 7 |
| IPMAlocation not on record | 6 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 6 |
| NTNU-VMlocation not on record | 6 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 6 |
| Nova Scotia Museumlocation not on record | 6 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 5 |
| Barcelona, ES | 4 |
| CASlocation not on record | 4 |
| Chicago, US | 4 |
| Tilburg, NL | 3 |
| Tromsø, NO | 2 |
| South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record | 2 |
| Bergen, NO | 2 |
| University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record | 2 |
| IEO-COMA-CSIClocation not on record | 2 |
| Citadel Hill, GB | 2 |
| Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii Polskiej Akademii Nauklocation not on record | 2 |
| Vancouver, CA | 2 |
| CLOlocation not on record | 2 |
| Vlaams Instituut voor de Zeelocation not on record | 1 |
| Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, Informatics Departmentlocation not on record | 1 |
| PNHSlocation not on record | 1 |
| Museo civico archeologico e di Scienze naturali di Alba Federico Eusebio | Alba Municipal Museum of Archaeology and Natural Sciences Federico Eusebiolocation not on record | 1 |
| MZLUlocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 1 |
| Deutsches Zentrum fuer Marine Biodiversitaetsforschunglocation not on record | 1 |
| ARMS-MBONlocation not on record | 1 |
| Champaign, US | 1 |
| Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural Historylocation not on record | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Scomber scombrus 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
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
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.