Skipjack tuna Skipjack tuna The skipjack tuna ("Katsuwonus pelamis") is a medium-sized perciform fish in the tuna family, Scombridae. It is otherwise known as the aku, arctic bonito, mushmouth, oceanic bonito, striped tuna, or victor fish. It grows up to 1 m (3 ft) in length. It is a cosmopolitan pelagic fish found in tropical and warm-temperate waters. It is a very important species for fisheries. It is a streamlined, fast-swimming pelagic fish, common in tropical waters throughout the world, where it inhabits surface waters in large shoals (up to 50,000 fish), feeding on fish, crustaceans, cephalopods, and molluscs. It is an
Skipjack shad upon them. In fact, it is shown that fish species in the family Clupeidae including the skipjack shad comprise up to 45% of the diet of these avian species. The spawning season for skipjack shad is from early March to late April in the southern extent of its range. In the upper Mississippi river drainage spawning time is from early May to early July. Females produce about 100,000 to 300,000 eggs per year, presumably after 2 to 3 years of growth with an average size being Spawning is thought to occur in the depths of main channel over coarse sand-gravel