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
Kathryn (skipjack) middle, and a flat transom stern. Like all present-day skipjacks she has a stern-mounted push plate to allow operation with a pushboat. She is fore-and-aft-planked, unlike most skipjacks, which are cross-planked. Her flush deck follows the standard skipjack plan, with a main hatch abaft the mast, followed by dredging gear, a smaller hatch, a doghouse over a very low cabin, the steering gear and a set of davits for the pushboat. The cabin is finished with varnished tongue-and-groove paneling, and has a bunk on each side under the deck. Steering gear is hydraulic. The "Kathryn" carries the standard skipjack rig