Kingfish

Scomberomorus commerson

The kingfish is known for its distinctive vivid blue to dark grey colour along their backs and flanks and silvery blue-grey on the belly.

Kingfish may only be caught six months of the year with a special permit from EAD required to do so.2018, due to an increase in bycatch of dugong in Kingfish nets and following consultation with the community, the fishing season utilizing nets was closed early within the emirate of Abu Dhabi Anecdotal reports suggest that the closing of the season is assisting with Kingfish recovery from a regional collapse in the population in the 1990s.

1. Kingfish are a migratory species, and generally do not like waters colder than 20 degrees Celsius.
2. They are voracious, opportunistic carnivores feeding mostly on small fish with lesser quantities of shrimp and squid.
3. Females spawn by age two, releasing between half a million and 1.5 million eggs.