Skipjack tuna important prey species for sharks and large pelagic fishes and is often used as live bait when fishing for Marlin. It has no scales, except on the lateral line and the corselet (a band of large, thick scales forming a circle around the body behind the head). It commonly reaches fork lengths up to and a weight of . Its maximum fork length is and maximum weight is . Ageing skipjack tuna is difficult, and the estimates of its potential lifespan range between 8 and 12 years. Skipjack tuna is a batch spawner. Spawning occurs year-round in equatorial waters, but
USS Skipjack (SSN-585) Atlantic transit. Down in the subsurface calm, the crew were hardly even aware of the turbulence above them. After returning to Norfolk, "Skipjack" conducted several exercises with ASW aircraft flying from air bases in Virginia and North Carolina. In these exercises "Skipjack" played the role of a Russian submarine; ASW forces were to locate, track and conduct simulated attacks against the "Skipjack". During the exercise, "Skipjack" was placed under certain handicaps that would not have been present in normal operations; for instance, she was restricted to a designated operating area measuring 20 miles by 10 miles. Also, at that time,