Photo Scanner: Leatherjacket

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Leatherjacket

The leatherjacket fish, skipjack or leather jack, Oligoplites saurus, is a jack and member of the Carangidae family. Leather jack may also refer to other members of the Carangidea family, such as the pilot fish. Leatherjack may also refer to the smooth leatherjacket, a member of the Monacanthidae family. The leatherjack fish inhabits shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coast. Also found in Australian waters, in the Pacific and Indian ocean. It voraciously devours small fish and shrimp, often in company with larger predatory species. A school of Leatherjackets were filmed attacking, killing and feeding upon an Octopus in the waters of Jervis Bay, NSW, Australia. Traditionally, the leather jacket has not been eaten, however recently with large scale farming of the fish, it has become a common fish at market. The fish has a mild oily taste similar to spanish mackerel or bluefish.