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) Squadron in 1907. In 1909 she was converted to a minesweeper, a conversion that resulted in her torpedo tubes being removed. On 8 October 1910 "Skipjack" arrested the French trawler "G599", which had been caught fishing within British territorial waters in the Thames estuary. The skipper of the trawler was fined five guineas for the offence. In January 1911 "Skipjack" completed a refit at Chatham and returned to fishery protection duties in the North Sea. On the outbreak of the First World War "Skipjack" joined the newly established Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. In August 1914, the