Ken Schultz's Field Guide to Saltwater Fish - Macaw Pets store

Jack, Bar
Caranx ruber
OTHER NAMES
runner, skipjack; Spanish:
cojinua carbonera, cojinua
negra, negrito.
Distribution. In the western
Atlantic, bar jacks are
found from New Jersey and
Bermuda to the northern
Gulf of Mexico and southern
Brazil, as well as throughout
the Caribbean.
Habitat. Bar jacks are
common in clear, shallow,
open waters at depths of up
to 60 feet, often over coral
reefs. Usually traveling in
spawning schools, they
sometimes mix with goatfish
and stingrays, although
they are occasionally
solitary.
112 Jack, Bar
A member of the Carangidae family, the bar jack is small
and more like a saltwater panfish, but it is a scrappy species
and a good food fish.
Identification. The bar jack is silvery, with a dark bluish
stripe on the back that runs from the beginning of the soft
dorsal fin and onto the lower tail fin. Sometimes there is
also a pale-blue stripe immediately beneath the black stripe
that extends forward onto the snout. The bar jack bears a
resemblance to the blue runner but has fewer and less
prominent large scales along the caudal peduncle than the
blue runner does. The bar jack has 26 to 30 soft rays in
the dorsal fin and 31 to 35 gill rakers on the lower limb of
the first arch. When feeding near bottom, it can darken
almost to black.
Size. Usually 8 to 14 inches in length, the bar jack reaches
a maximum of 2 feet.
Food and feeding habits. Opportunistic feeders, bar jacks
feed mainly on pelagic and benthic fish, some shrimp, and
other invertebrates.