Scomberesocidae

Scomberesocidae 

(sauries), a family of fishes of the order Beloniformes. Body length, up to 45 cm. The dorsal and ventral fins are on the posterior half of the body; behind the dorsal and anal fins there are between two and seven small fins. The family has two genera, Cololabis and Scomberesox. The genus Cololabis has two species, the Pacific saury (Cololabis saira) and the dwarf saury (C. adocetus), which are found only in the Pacific Ocean. Scomberesox has one species, the Atlantic saury (Scomberesox saurus), which is encountered in the Pacific, Atlantic, and southern Indian oceans.

In the USSR the Pacific saury is found in the Sea of Japan, near the Kuril Islands and along Kamchatka; the Atlantic saury is encountered rarely in the Barents and Black seas. Sauries are distributed in open seas in temperate latitudes, inhabiting surface waters. They stay in schools. Spawning is in batches, and fertility is up to 22,000 eggs. Sauries, which feed on small zooplankton, serve as food for many commercially valuable marine animals. Of all sauries, the Pacific saury is of the greatest commercial value.

REFERENCE

Nikol’skii, G. V. Chastnaia ikhtiologiia, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1971.