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
HMS Skipjack (1889) summoned nearby gunboats, and at 1 pm the next day, "Skipjack" spotted "U-16", but the submarine dived to safety and escaped. While the German official history records that "'Skipjack" fired on "U-16", this is not confirmed by "Skipjack"s log or official report of the incident. On 17 December 1914, "Skipjack" and the torpedo gunboats and were on passage from Lowestoft to Scapa Flow, when they were temporarily diverted to help to deal with a minefield laid off Scarborough during the Bombardment of Scarborough on 16 December. In early May 1917 "Skipjack" and three other torpedo gunboats were sent to sweep