Animal
Atlantic mackerel
The Atlantic mackerel is a shiny fish with wavy dark stripes on its back. Mackerel swim together in big groups near the top of the sea.
The Atlantic mackerel is a sleek, shiny fish of the North Atlantic Ocean, with a blue-green back covered in wavy black bars and a silvery white belly. Mackerel swim in large schools near the surface, eat tiny crustaceans and lay floating eggs. Many fish and sea mammals eat them, and so do people.
Scomber scombrus, a member of the tuna and mackerel family Scombridae, is a schooling, migratory fish of North Atlantic shelf waters and the Mediterranean and Black Seas. It is a batch spawner with floating eggs and can feed by filtering or by picking prey by sight. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern (2023) but with a decreasing trend; the U.S. stock is being rebuilt.
Photo: © Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the Atlantic mackerel
The Atlantic mackerel is a shiny fish.
Its back is blue-green with wavy black stripes. Its tummy is silvery white. Mackerel swim together in big groups.
The Atlantic mackerel is a sleek fish with a shimmering blue-green back and a silvery white belly. Across the top half of its body run 20 to 30 wavy black bars, like ripples on water, with a thin dark streak below them.
Mackerel grow fast, up to about 16 and a half inches long. They live in schools in the North Atlantic Ocean and are important to people who fish for fun as well as for a living. Their bright colors fade quickly after they die.
Scomber scombrus belongs to the family Scombridae, with the tunas and bonitos; the IUCN places it in the order Perciformes and the class Actinopterygii, while NOAA Fisheries uses the newer order Scombriformes. NOAA describes an iridescent blue-green back, a silvery white belly, 20 to 30 wavy black bars across the upper body and a narrow dark streak below them along each side; the coloring fades quickly after death.
NOAA gives a maximum of about 16.5 inches and 2.2 pounds and a life span of up to 20 years. The IUCN reports a record of 70 centimeters and 3.2 kilograms, though fish longer than 50 centimeters are uncommon, and longevity estimates that differ between stocks: about 12 years in the west and 18 in the east.
Quick facts
- Group
- Fish
- Length
- up to 0.42 m
- Weight
- up to 1 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- up to 20 years
Where it lives
Mackerel live in the North Atlantic Ocean.
They swim near the coasts of North America and Europe. Some live in the Mediterranean Sea.
Atlantic mackerel live on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean. In North America they are found from Labrador in Canada to North Carolina. In Europe they live from Norway and Iceland down to Spain and Portugal, in the Baltic Sea, and in the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
They like cool water over the continental shelf. In winter they move to deeper water, and in spring they come closer to shore when the water warms to about 11 to 14 degrees Celsius.
The IUCN restricts the species to the North Atlantic and adjacent seas, including the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and lists more than forty countries where it is native. NOAA Fisheries places the western range from Labrador to North Carolina and notes that mackerel also live in the Baltic Sea.
Mackerel are pelagic and oceanodromous, most abundant in cold and temperate shelf areas, and range from the surface to about 1,000 meters. They overwinter in deeper water and move inshore in spring at 11 to 14 °C. Their distribution is shifting: the IUCN reports that the northwest Atlantic stock moved about 250 kilometers north and east between 1968 and 2008, and that northeast Atlantic mackerel have extended their summer feeding grounds north and west, around Iceland, since about 2006.
Did you know?
Mackerel can eat in two different ways.
Mackerel can strain tiny animals from the water like a sieve, or spot a single animal and gulp it down.
Mackerel either filter small pelagic organisms with their gill rakers or select individual prey by sight and swallow it whole (IUCN).
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Coastal and shelf waters of the North Atlantic, from Labrador to North Carolina in the west and from Norway and Iceland to Spain and Morocco in the east, plus the Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Seas. The IUCN also lists Gibraltar, Malta and Monaco, too small to show. The map shades whole countries; mackerel live only in the sea off their coasts.
Places: Albania, Algeria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark and 30 more places.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Canada, United States, Norway, UK, Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, France and 35 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
What it eats
Mackerel eat tiny sea animals, like little shrimp.
They also eat squid and small fish.
Atlantic mackerel eat lots of crustaceans, the group of animals with hard outer shells that includes copepods, krill and shrimp. They also eat squid, some fish, and sea squirts, which are sac-shaped animals that live in the sea.
Mackerel can feed in two ways. They can strain tiny animals from the water with comb-like parts of their gills, or they can spot a bigger animal and grab it. Many fish and sea mammals eat mackerel in turn.
NOAA Fisheries reports a diet heavy in crustaceans such as copepods, krill and shrimp, plus squid, some fish and ascidians. The IUCN describes two feeding modes: filtering small pelagic organisms with the gill rakers, or selecting individual prey by sight and swallowing it whole. Larvae begin by eating phytoplankton, and adults take the same prey as juveniles plus a wider range of larger items.
Diets vary by region: in the North Aegean Sea, the IUCN notes, Atlantic mackerel feed largely on anchovies and sardines. Mackerel are themselves eaten by several species of fish and marine mammals.
Did you know?
Mackerel now live farther north than they used to.
Scientists have found that Atlantic mackerel now spawn and feed farther north than they did a few decades ago.
The northwest Atlantic stock shifted about 250 kilometers north and east between 1968 and 2008, and northeast Atlantic mackerel have fed around Iceland since about 2006 (IUCN).
A mackerel up close
A mackerel has a pointed head and big eyes.
Wavy stripes cover its back. Near its tail is a row of tiny fins. Its tail is shaped like a V.
A mackerel's body is smooth and pointed at both ends. Its back is covered in wavy dark bars, and its belly is silvery white.
Look for the fin on its back, a small fin on each side behind the gill cover, and a row of tiny finlets near the tail, like those of its cousin the tuna. The tail is deeply forked, shaped like a V.
NOAA Fisheries identifies the species by its iridescent blue-green back with 20 to 30 wavy black bars and a narrow dark streak below them. In the photograph, the streamlined body, large eye, gill cover, first dorsal fin, pectoral fin, a row of small finlets ahead of the tail and the deeply forked tail are visible.
The IUCN notes that mackerel can filter food with their gill rakers, comb-like structures on the gill arches. Hidden inside the gill cover, those rakers strain small organisms from the water.
Floating eggs
A mother mackerel lays lots of tiny eggs.
The eggs float near the top of the sea. After about a week, tiny baby fish hatch.
Atlantic mackerel spawn in spring and summer, about 10 to 30 miles offshore. A female can produce from 285,000 to almost 2 million eggs, depending on her size, and she releases them in five to seven batches over the season.
The eggs float near the surface and hatch in 4 to 7 and a half days, depending on water temperature. Mackerel can have young of their own by age 2 or 3.
In the western Atlantic, NOAA Fisheries describes two spawning groups: a southern group in the Mid-Atlantic Bight from April to May and a northern group in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, both typically 10 to 30 miles offshore. The IUCN reports that spawning does not begin until the water warms to about 8 °C, with most eggs produced at 9 to 14 °C.
Batch fecundity ranges from 285,000 to almost 2 million eggs, released in five to seven batches. The eggs float in the surface layer and hatch in 4 to 7.5 days, and first-feeding larvae of about 3.5 millimeters eat phytoplankton. Median age at maturity off the northeastern United States is 1.9 years; NOAA gives maturity at 2 to 3 years.
Schools on the move
Mackerel swim together in big groups called schools.
They swim near the top of the sea in the daytime. They travel far each year.
Mackerel swim in large schools near the surface and are mostly active during the day. Each year they travel between the places where they spawn and the places where they feed in summer.
Some of their journeys are long. Mackerel in the northwest Atlantic migrate great distances with the seasons, and scientists have found that mackerel are now spawning and feeding farther north than they used to.
The IUCN describes Atlantic mackerel as pelagic, oceanodromous and mainly diurnal, forming large schools near the surface. The northwest Atlantic stock migrates great distances seasonally, and the northeast Atlantic population is thought to consist of three spawning components (Southern, Western and North Sea) that mix on northern feeding grounds.
The IUCN also reports that the spawning distribution has shifted northward over the last three decades, probably in response to sea warming, and that climate change may move the species further north, bringing it within reach of additional fishing nations.
Did you know?
Mackerel eggs float.
Mackerel eggs float near the surface of the sea and hatch in four to seven and a half days.
Eggs are pelagic, floating in the surface layer above the thermocline, and hatch in 4 to 7.5 days.
Mackerel and fishing
People catch lots of mackerel.
In some places too many were caught. Now there are rules to help them come back.
Atlantic mackerel are an important catch for fishers in North America and Europe. Overall, the IUCN lists them as Least Concern, but their numbers are going down in some places.
Off North America, too many were caught: in 2022 Canada closed its main mackerel fishery to help the fish recover. In the United States, NOAA Fisheries says a 2025 check found that mackerel are no longer overfished, though they are still being rebuilt.
The IUCN global assessment (assessed June 2022, published 2023) lists Atlantic mackerel as Least Concern with a decreasing trend. The large northeast Atlantic stock showed no overall decline over three generations, but its spawning stock biomass has fallen since a 2014 peak; the North Sea component dropped from about 4 million tons in 1960 to about 0.1 million tons. At the time, the northwest Atlantic stock was overfished with overfishing occurring, and Canada closed its directed commercial and bait fisheries in 2022.
NOAA Fisheries now states that, according to the 2025 stock assessment, Atlantic mackerel in U.S. waters is not overfished but still rebuilding to its target level, and is not subject to overfishing. The 2026 U.S. commercial quota is 11,237 metric tons, with a recreational possession limit of 25 fish per person per trip for private anglers.
IUCN Red List
How is the atlantic mackerel doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
Amazing facts
-
A mackerel's bright colors fade after it leaves the water.
A living mackerel shimmers blue and green, but its bright colors fade quickly after it dies.
NOAA Fisheries notes that the mackerel's distinctive iridescent coloring fades quickly after death.
-
Mackerel can eat in two different ways.
Mackerel can strain tiny animals from the water like a sieve, or spot a single animal and gulp it down.
Mackerel either filter small pelagic organisms with their gill rakers or select individual prey by sight and swallow it whole (IUCN).
-
Mackerel eggs float.
Mackerel eggs float near the surface of the sea and hatch in four to seven and a half days.
Eggs are pelagic, floating in the surface layer above the thermocline, and hatch in 4 to 7.5 days.
-
Mackerel now live farther north than they used to.
Scientists have found that Atlantic mackerel now spawn and feed farther north than they did a few decades ago.
The northwest Atlantic stock shifted about 250 kilometers north and east between 1968 and 2008, and northeast Atlantic mackerel have fed around Iceland since about 2006 (IUCN).
Words to know
- school
- a large group of fish swimming together
- finlet
- a small fin in a row between a fish's back fin and its tail
- gill rakers
- comb-like parts on a fish's gills that strain food from the water
- crustacean
- an animal with a hard outer shell and jointed legs, such as a shrimp
- spawn
- to release eggs and sperm to make young fish
- rebuilding
- helping a fish population grow back to a healthy size
Discovery challenge
-
What pattern does a mackerel have on its back?
What pattern marks the back of an Atlantic mackerel?
Which marking identifies Scomber scombrus?
- Big white spots
- Wavy black bars
- Rainbow circles
Show the answer
Wavy black bars
It has wavy black stripes on its back.
It has 20 to 30 wavy black bars across the top half of its body.
Twenty to thirty wavy black bars on an iridescent blue-green back, with a narrow dark streak below them.
-
What do mackerel eat?
What do Atlantic mackerel eat the most?
Which prey group dominates the Atlantic mackerel's diet?
- Grass and leaves
- Small crustaceans such as krill and shrimp
- Pebbles
Show the answer
Small crustaceans such as krill and shrimp
They eat tiny sea animals like little shrimp.
They eat lots of crustaceans such as copepods, krill and shrimp, plus squid and some fish.
Crustaceans (copepods, krill, shrimp), with squid, some fish and ascidians.
-
What happens to mackerel eggs?
What happens to Atlantic mackerel eggs after they are released?
Where do Atlantic mackerel eggs develop?
- They float near the surface
- They are buried in sand
- They stick to the father's back
Show the answer
They float near the surface
The eggs float near the top of the sea.
The eggs float in the surface water and hatch in 4 to 7 and a half days.
The eggs are pelagic, floating in the upper water layer until they hatch.
-
How do mackerel like to swim?
How do Atlantic mackerel usually travel?
Which describes how Atlantic mackerel usually live?
- Alone in deep caves
- In big schools near the surface
- Buried in the sea floor
Show the answer
In big schools near the surface
They swim together in big groups near the top of the sea.
They swim in large schools near the surface and travel between spawning and feeding grounds.
Pelagic and mainly diurnal, forming large schools near the surface and migrating seasonally.
Places where you might see it
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Watch
Country
Norway
Norway stretches along the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula, far into the Arctic. Deep, narrow inlets of the sea called fjords cut into its mountains, and about 5.6 million people live there, many of them near Oslo, the capital.
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Watch
Country
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom, or UK, lies on islands off the northwest coast of Europe. It is made up of four parts, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and about 69.5 million people live there. Its capital is London.
-
Watch
Country
Canada
Canada is the second-largest country in the world, stretching across the north of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific and up into the Arctic. It has the Rocky Mountains, thousands of islands and about 42 million people, who speak English, French and many other languages.
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Atlantic herring
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Country
Norway
Norway stretches along the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula, far into the Arctic. Deep, narrow inlets of the sea called fjords cut into its mountains, and about 5.6 million people live there, many of them near Oslo, the capital.
-
Watch
Country
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom, or UK, lies on islands off the northwest coast of Europe. It is made up of four parts, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and about 69.5 million people live there. Its capital is London.
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Watch
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Canada
Canada is the second-largest country in the world, stretching across the north of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific and up into the Arctic. It has the Rocky Mountains, thousands of islands and about 42 million people, who speak English, French and many other languages.
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Atlantic bluefin tuna
The Atlantic bluefin tuna is the largest of all tunas: big ones can be about 4 meters long. Its torpedo-shaped body is built for long journeys, and it can keep its body warmer than the water around it. Bluefin tuna were badly overfished, but with fishing limits set by countries working together, the numbers caught are now controlled.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Identify the Atlantic mackerel by its wavy bars, finlets and forked tail.
- Explain the mackerel's two ways of feeding: filtering and picking prey by sight.
- Describe the mackerel life cycle, with floating eggs released in batches.
- Understand how scientists track fish stocks and why some are being rebuilt.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might a fish move north as the ocean warms?
- How could closing a fishery for a few years help the fish and, later, the people who fish?
- What might be good about laying eggs in several batches instead of all at once?
Try at home or in class
- Pour water through a kitchen sieve with a few grains of rice in it to see how gill rakers can strain food from water.
- Draw a mackerel and count out 20 to 30 wavy bars along its back.
Key vocabulary: school, finlet, gill rakers, crustacean, spawn, rebuilding
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Scomber scombrus (Atlantic Mackerel), 2023 global assessment , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Atlantic Mackerel , NOAA Fisheries
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 28, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.