Almaco jack
Fish · Last reviewed 2026-08-25
A circumglobal amberjack of deeper reef — and a fish whose eastern Atlantic distribution FishBase itself declines to state confidently.
Safety: line under tension — can cause injury needing treatment.
Catching Almaco jack
Everything here on fishing for it. Each entry opens the page behind it.
- Ground
*Seriola rivoliana* is the almaco jack: a heavy, deep-bodied *Seriola* recorded by FishBase from 5 to 245 m and usually between 30 and 35 m, reaching 160 cm and just under 60 kg.
It is deeper-bodied than the greater amberjack and its second dorsal and anal fins are noticeably longer at the front, which is where `longfin yellowtail` comes from. The dark bar running from the upper jaw through the eye to the front of the dorsal is present in both and is not a way to tell them apart; body depth and the fin profile are.
WHAT FISHBASE SAYS ABOUT ITS RANGE IS WORTH QUOTING RATHER THAN SUMMARISING. It calls the species circumglobal, gives detailed Indo-West Pacific, eastern Pacific and western Atlantic accounts, and then says: `Distribution in the eastern Atlantic is not well established.` A Madeiran creel survey recording it at 0.76% of the estimated recreational shore catch is therefore a small contribution to an open question, and is treated here as exactly that.
For an angler it is a deeper-water fish that comes within reach where deep water comes close to the shore, which on Madeira it frequently does — the island is a mountain with very little shelf, and a harbour wall can have fifty metres under it. Almaco jack take live baits, large soft plastics and jigs worked fast, and they fight in the way the genus does: straight down, hard, and towards the reef.
FishBase rates resilience LOW.
Identification
No photograph of Almaco jack has passed identity review yet, so none is shown. FishingHQ publishes a species photograph only once somebody has confirmed the animal in it against the species record’s own diagnostic features.
- Scientific name
- Seriola rivoliana
- Family
- Carangidae
- Water
- Saltwater
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Regions
- Western Europe, Mediterranean, North America, Central & South America, Indo-Pacific, East & Southern Africa, Pacific Islands
- Noticeably deeper-bodied than the greater amberjack at the same length.
- The front lobes of the second dorsal and anal fins are long and falcate — the source of `longfin yellowtail`.
- A dark bar from the upper jaw through the eye to the dorsal origin, which the greater amberjack also has and which therefore separates nothing.
- Olive to brownish above with a paler amber flank stripe, fading rapidly out of water.
- FishBase records a maximum of 160 cm and 59.9 kg.
Size
- Typical
- 50–90 cm
- Large
- 110 cm and over
Exceptional: FishBase records a maximum of 160 cm and 59.9 kg
Lifecycle and reproduction
Reef-associated from 5 to 245 m and usually 30 to 35 m, circumglobal in subtropical seas. FishBase rates resilience LOW. Juveniles associate with floating cover in open water before moving to reef.
A pelagic broadcast spawner over and near reef. FishBase carries no detailed account for the eastern Atlantic, which is consistent with its statement that the distribution there is not well established.
Feeding and senses
A fast mid-water predator on small fish and squid over deeper reef, hunting in small groups and driving prey upwards. It takes live baits, fast-worked jigs and large soft plastics.
Daylight sight-hunting in clear water over structure, keying on movement and on baitfish activity rather than on scent. It hunts in small groups and drives prey towards the surface, so the fish is often located by what the bait is doing rather than by anything the angler can see of the predator itself — which is why watching the water matters more here than covering it.
Through the year
Present year-round in subtropical water; its availability from the shore is governed by how close deep water runs rather than by season.
Distribution
Circumglobal. Indo-West Pacific: Kenya south to South Africa and east to Mariana and Wake islands in Micronesia, north to the Ryukyu Islands, south to New Caledonia and the Kermadec Islands . Absent from the Red Sea and French Polynesia. Likely at Seychelles . Eastern Pacific: USA to Peru, including Galapagos Islands . Western Atlantic: Cape Cod, USA to northern Argentina . Distribution in the eastern Atlantic is not well established. Recently recorded from Lampedusa Island in the Mediterranean
This is a biological range — where the species occurs, not a prediction that you will catch one. To browse the fishing geography FishingHQ holds, start at fishing places.
Why anglers care
A powerful deep-reef Seriola taken from Macaronesian shore marks where deep water runs close in, on live bait, jigs and large soft plastics, and recorded at 0.76% of the estimated recreational shore catch of the Madeira archipelago. Landing one from a wall is a tackle problem rather than a hooking problem: it runs down and towards rock.
Handling and returning
A heavy, powerful fish with no venom and no serious teeth. The danger is to the angler's footing rather than to their hands. Support a large fish horizontally, keep it in the water where possible, and be aware that a fish of this size lifted vertically up a harbour wall is usually a fish that will not swim away.
Safety
Line under tension — Can cause injury needing treatment
A hooked fish of this power taken from a wall or rock puts heavy line under sustained load close to the angler, and a hooklength that parts under it sends terminal tackle back at speed.
What reduces it: Fish tackle matched to a fish that may reach 60 kg rather than to the ones usually landed, keep the head and body out of the line of a straightening pull, and never lean over an edge to gain angle.
Where to go next
Similar and related fish
Where it lives
More fish
Not related to this page — just the rest of the section. There is little else joined to this subject yet, and a short page should still lead somewhere.
Sources and evidence
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Family, maximum size, depth range, environment, distribution and the IUCN assessment for Seriola rivoliana.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The Least Concern assessment for Seriola rivoliana, assessed 21 August 2012.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Importance of recreational shore angling in the archipelago of Madeira (northeast Atlantic) — Scientia Marina (CSIC), vol. 84 no. 4, 2020 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: That this species is recorded in the recreational shore-angling catch of the Madeira archipelago, at 0.76% of the estimated total by the study's own catch-composition table.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The widely restated practitioner account of how this species is fished — tackle, method and the ground it is taken over.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Why the 3 connections on this page are here, and the sources
Similar and related fish
Backed by research — 1 connection
Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.
Greater amberjack
Seriola rivoliana is markedly deeper-bodied than Seriola dumerili at the same length, and the front lobes of its second dorsal and anal fins are long and falcate where the amberjack's are not. Both carry the dark bar running from the upper jaw through the eye, which is the mark most often used to identify an amberjack and which distinguishes neither from the other.
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: The morphology, size, depth range and distribution that separate these two species from one another.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How it is caught
What experienced anglers do — 1 connection
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Jigging
Fished with fast-worked jigs, large soft plastics and live baits over deeper reef. On a steep oceanic island the same fishing is possible from the shore, and the practitioner account is consistent that the problem is not hooking the fish but stopping it reaching rock afterwards.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Identification, distribution, habitat and fishery description from the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The widely restated practitioner account of how this species is fished.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Where it lives
Backed by research — 1 connection
Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.
Open ocean
Recorded as reef-associated from 5 to 245 m and usually 30 to 35 m, circumglobal in subtropical seas. FishBase states that its distribution in the eastern Atlantic is NOT well established, which is carried as the open question it is.
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Environment, depth range, habitat association and distribution for Seriola rivoliana.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.