Mackerel fish, sometimes indicating the fish has vertical stripes similar to a scombroid mackerel: By extension, the term is applied also to other species such as the mackerel tabby cat, and to inanimate objects such as the altocumulus mackerel sky cloud formation. Most mackerel belong to the family Scombridae, which also includes tuna and bonito. Generally mackerel are much smaller and slimmer than tuna, though in other respects they share many common characteristics. Their scales, if present at all, are extremely small. Like tuna and bonito, mackerel are voracious feeders, and are swift and manoeuvrable swimmers, able to streamline themselves by
Atka mackerel roughly a year before his death. Atka mackerel were once considered to be synonymous with Arabesque greenlings. The combined species would have been called the Okhotsk Atka mackerel, a name now used only for the greenling. The two fishes are, in reality, two distinct species. Able to live up to 14 years, the largest Atka mackerel recorded was 56.5 cm long; the heaviest recorded weight was 2.0 kg. Adults have five vertical, blackish bands on their bodies, which are normally yellowish. Atka mackerel can be distinguished from other, similar species by the number of spines and rays that they have