Home > Fishes > Jacks > Seriola lalandi complex

Updated 4/30/2020

Family Carangidae

EAST ASIA   Seriola aureovittata

NE PACIFIC   Seriola dorsalis

SOUTHERN OCEAN  Seriola lalandi

S. aureovittata, Midway Atoll

 



S. dorsalis, Lana'i

 JAPANESE YELLOWTAIL    Hiramasa

Fairly common along temperate and subtropical continental coasts along deep reefs and banks, specimens are extremely rare in Hawaii.  Green above with yellow lateral stripe and fins.  Scutes absent.  Attains 5 feet & 115 pounds.  Excellent food and game fish.

Genetic study determined that Seriola lalandi is a three-species complex of geographically isolated species, S. lalandi in the Southern Hemisphere, S. aureovittata in East Asia, and S. dorsalis in the Northeast Pacific. 

I suspect that fish from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are of Japanese origin, while Main Hawaiian Island specimens are either Japanese or Mexican, depending on large-scale current oscillations.  This is based upon observations of non-Hawaiian fish species  around the Hawaiian Islands, namely Japanese species at Kure and Midway atoll, and Mexican species from the Main Hawaiian Islands.  These waif species events tend to occur on different years, not simultaneously, with the waifs eventually disappearing  without establishing breeding populations, with the exception of Spotted Knifejaws and Finescale Triggerfishes at opposite ends of the archipelago.