Indian Mackerel; Identity

The family Scombridae (under the order Perciformes of sub-class Actinopterygii) comprises four subfamilies viz., Gasterochismatinae, Thunninae, Scomberomorinae and Scombrinae. The first subfamily includes just one member, Gasterochisma melampus Richardson, popularly known as the butterfly mackerel which has a southern and disjunct distribution, occurring on coast of South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina. Thunninae includes a large assemblage of species, called tunnies coming under the genera Auxis Cuvier, Cybiosarda Whitley, Sarda Cuvier, Gymnosarda Gill, Thunnus South, Allothunnus Serventy, Orcynopsis Gill, Katsuwonus Kishinouye and Euthynnus Jordan and Gilbert. The genus Thunnus comprises several subgenera, viz., Thunnus S.Str., Parathunnus Kishinouye, Kishinoella Jordan and Hubbs and Neothunnus Kishinouye.Scomberomorinae has the seer fishes under the genus Scomberomorus Lacepede and the Wahoo under Acanthocybium Gill. The subfamilyScombrinae includes the chub mackerels or the true mackerels and the double-lined mackerel under the genera Scomber Linnaeus, Rastrelliger Jordan and Starks and Grammatorcynus Gill. Most members of these four subfamilies are well distributed in the Indo-Pacific region. Some, however, are restricted in their distribution to temperate regions only as Scomber scombrus, Orcynopsis unicolor and Allothunnus fallai Serventy. The genus Rastrelliger has two valid species i.e. R. kanagurta (Cuvier) and R. brachysoma (Bleeker) occurring in the seas aound India, the former being by far the commonest and most abundant mackerel species in this region