Naucrates ductor, Pilotfish : fisheries, gamefish, aquarium

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Naucrates ductor (Linnaeus, 1758)

Pilotfish
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Naucrates ductor   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Naucrates ductor
Picture by Luquet, D.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Carangiformes (Jacks) > Carangidae (Jacks and pompanos) > Naucratinae
Etymology: Naucrates: Greek, naykrates, -es, -es = supremacy in the sea (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; reef-associated; depth range 0 - 300 m (Ref. 86942). Subtropical; 61°N - 43°S, 180°W - 180°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Circumtropical in tropical seas. Western Atlantic: Nova Scotia, Canada to Argentina (Ref. 7251). Eastern Atlantic: British Isles (rare vagrant), Norway and Bay of Biscay to Namibia, including the Mediterranean and Canary Islands. Eastern Pacific: Vancouver Island (British Columbia, Canada) to the Galapagos Islands (Ref. 2850) and Chile (Ref. 115205). Common throughout the Indian Ocean (Ref. 3197).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 70.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5288); common length : 40.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9626)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 5 - 6; Dorsal soft rays (total): 25-29; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 15 - 17. Body elongate, slender, and not strongly compressed; posterior end of upper jaw located at anterior rim of eye; dorsal fin with 4 or 5 spines followed by another spine and 25 to 29 soft rays (IV-V+I 25-29); lateral line without scutes; caudal peduncle with well developed fleshy keels and with dorsal and ventral peduncular fossae (Ref. 55763). Body dark to pale bluish, with 6-7 broad, dark bars; white tips on caudal lobes and on second dorsal and anal lobes (Ref. 3197).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Oceanic species with a semi-obligate commensal relationship with sharks, rays, other bony fishes and turtles (Ref. 5217). Young are usually associated with jellyfish and drifting seaweed (Ref. 2850, 9563). Feed on scraps of host's left over, parasites and excrement; also on small fishes and invertebrates (Ref. 5288). Eggs are pelagic (Ref. 4233). Marketed fresh and salted or dried (Ref. 9283). Captured at the surface using hand nets (Ref. 26165).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Smith-Vaniz, William F. | Collaborators

Smith-Vaniz, W.F., J.-C. Quéro and M. Desoutter, 1990. Carangidae. p. 729-755. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2. (Ref. 7097)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 07 November 2013

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish: yes; aquarium: public aquariums
FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | OsteoBase: skull, spine | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 7.9 - 28.1, mean 20.9 °C (based on 3025 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 1.0000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01380 (0.00638 - 0.02986), b=2.94 (2.75 - 3.13), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.4   ±0.43 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (48 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 53.5 [24.2, 150.1] mg/100g; Iron = 1.83 [0.82, 3.87] mg/100g; Protein = 20.4 [18.9, 21.9] %; Omega3 = 0.235 [0.085, 0.623] g/100g; Selenium = 61.3 [21.5, 188.7] μg/100g; VitaminA = 7.63 [1.58, 39.34] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.869 [0.481, 1.541] mg/100g (wet weight);