Bar Jack

The Bar Jack is an elegant fish in the Jack (Carangidae) family resident to the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, extending along the coast of Brazil associated with coral reefs. Most often schooling and feeding pelagically, but occasionally foraging solo in shallow sand.

Their sound is produced by way of both grinding teeth and swim bladder oscillation.

Most accounts of the Bar Jack include a hetrospecific foraging relationship with the Puddingwife Wrasse – that the wrasse and the jack formed foraging teams that the Jack would even defend this team relationship against encroachment by conspecifics (other Bar Jacks).

(the sound comes CD Supplement to: “Sounds of the Western North Atlantic Fishes” by Fish & Mowbray, 1970. CD ©University of Rhode Island, 2001.

: Bar Jack: Photo by sniffette on Flickr

: Bar Jack: Photo by nashworld on Flickr

: Bar Jack: Photo by Michael McDonough on Flickr

: Bar Jack: Photo by alumroot on Flickr

Latin Name:

Carangoides ruber

AKA:

Bar Jack, Red Jack, Carbonero, Blue-striped Cavalla, Passing Jack

Length:

40 – 69 cm (15” – 23”)

Weight:

up to 6.8 kg (15 lbs)

Lifetime:

Both males and females mature by 3-4 years.

Physical Traits:

dark horizontal bar that runs along it’s back and the lower tail fin
electric blue stripe below the black stripe on the body
body color gets darker when bottom-feeding
white belly

Behavior:

found both alone and in large groups
mobile between various different habitats

Habitat:

clear shallow waters, coral reefs, sandbars, lagoons, offshore, up to 100 meters deep

Locations:

along coast from New Jersey to Brazil, Gulf of Mexico, West Indies

Food:

fish, crustaceans, cephalopods

Predators:

Other large carangids, as well as dolphins, mackerels, marlins, various seabirds, humans.

Links:

Wikipedia: Bar Jack
Discovery of Sound in the Sea: Bar Jack
Macaulay Library: Bar Jack
FishBase.org: Bar Jack Species Summary

Literature:

Fish, M.P. and Mowbray, H.M. 1970. Sounds of Western North Atlantic Fishes. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press. p. 62

Hoese, H.D. and Moore, R.H. 1998. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico: Texas, Louisiana, and Adjacent Waters. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas 77843