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
Ruby G. Ford (skipjack) Ruby G. Ford (skipjack) The "Ruby G. Ford" was a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1891 at Fairmount, Maryland. She was a two-sail bateau, or "V"-bottomed deadrise type of centerboard sloop. She had a beam of , a depth of , and a net tonnage of 5 register tons. She was one of the 35 surviving traditional Chesapeake Bay skipjacks and a member of the last commercial sailing fleet in the United States. According to a first-hand account by Christopher White in his book "Skipjack", pp. 292–296, St. Martin's Press, published in 2009, the "Ruby G. Ford" was burned to