Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae.

Mackerel species typically have deeply forked tails and vertical "tiger-like" stripes on their backs with an iridescent green-blue quality.

[2][3] Many are restricted in their distribution ranges and live in separate populations or fish stocks based on geography.

After spawning they return the way they came in smaller schools to suitable feeding grounds, often near an area of upwelling.

The term "mackerel" is derived from Old French and may have originally meant either "marked, spotted" or "pimp, procurer".

The latter connection is not altogether clear, but mackerel spawn enthusiastically in shoals near the coast, and medieval ideas on animal procreation were creative.

[33] In addition, a number of species with mackerel-like characteristics in the families Carangidae, Hexagrammidae and Gempylidae are commonly referred to as mackerel.

Generally, mackerel are much smaller and slimmer than tuna, though in other respects, they share many common characteristics.

Like tuna and bonito, mackerel are voracious feeders, and are swift and manoeuvrable swimmers, able to streamline themselves by retracting their fins into grooves on their bodies.

These fish are iridescent blue-green above with a silvery underbelly and near-vertical wavy black stripes running along their upper bodies.

[28][116][failed verification] The prominent stripes on the back of mackerels seemingly are there to provide camouflage against broken backgrounds.

Adult snake mackerel conduct a diel vertical migration, staying in deeper water during the day and rising to the surface at night to feed.

The young and juveniles also migrate vertically, but in the opposite direction, staying near the surface during the day and moving deeper at night.

[127] Mackerel are prolific broadcast spawners, and must breed near the surface of the water because the eggs of the females float.

As adults, they have sharp teeth, and hunt small crustaceans such as copepods, forage fish, shrimp, and squid.

In turn, they are hunted by larger pelagic animals such as tuna, billfish, sea lions, sharks, and pelicans.

[138] The North Sea has been overfished to the point where the ecological balance has become disrupted and many jobs in the fishing industry have been lost.

However, spoilage was common, leading the authors of The Cambridge Economic History of Europe to remark: "There are more references to stinking mackerel in English literature than to any other fish!

"[134] In France, mackerel was traditionally pickled with large amounts of salt, which allowed it to be sold widely across the country.

[134] For many years mackerel was regarded as 'unclean' in the UK and other places due to folklore which suggested that the fish fed on the corpses of dead sailors.

[145] A 1976 survey of housewives in Britain undertaken by the White Fish Authority indicated a reluctance to departing from buying the traditional staples of cod, haddock or salmon.