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
Skipjack shad was impounded, and currently skipjack shad are most abundant in the upper Mississippi River below the mouth of the Ohio River. In recent years, human modifications to the middle Missouri River have made conditions more favorable for skipjack shad and their distribution has expanded upstream to the Nebraska-South Dakota border. Skipjack shad were historically found in the northern upper Mississippi River and the St. Croix River; however, there have only been four records of skipjack shad in Wisconsin waters since the 1950s. Because this fish is a migratory species, dams have diminished its distribution. It cannot continue to migrate northward