Caranx crysos 

 Adult 



10 cm 



(from Goode 1884) 



Common Name: blue runner 



Scientific Name: Caranx crysos 



Other Common Names: jager boca, bau, deep water 



cavaly (McKenney et. al. 1958); carangue coubal 



(French), cojinuda negra (Spanish) (Fischer 1978, 



NOAA1985). 



Classification (Robins et al. 1991) 



Phylum: Chordata 



Class: Osteichthyes 



Order: Perciformes 



Family: Carangidae 



Value 



Commercial : The blue runner is one of the most com- 

 mercially important species of the jacks, but stocks still 

 remain relatively unexploited (Heald 1970, Goodwin 

 and Johnson 1 986). Annual landings of blue runner in 

 the northeast Gulf of Mexico have been reported as 

 approximately 600 metric tons (Heald 1970). Beach 

 and haul seines are the primary gear used to catch blue 

 runner, and catches occur off the coasts of Louisiana 

 and Florida (Heald 1970). Large incidental catches 

 occur during commercial red drum purse seining op- 

 erations off of Gulf of Mexico barrier islands (Overstreet 

 1 983). This species has traditionally been used as bait, 

 but has gained popularity as a fresh or frozen food fish, 

 with small amounts being exported to the Caribbean 

 area (Shaw and Drullinger 1990). In Puerto Rico, 

 Trinidad, and the West Indies, blue runner is an impor- 

 tant food fish (McKenney et. al. 1 958), and is marketed 

 either fresh or salted (Shaw and Drullinger 1990). 

 Recruitment to the fishery occurs at age III (NOAA 

 1985, Goodwin and Johnson 1986). 



Recreational : Blue runner is fished recreationally, pri- 

 marily in the late spring and summer, in coastal areas 

 from jetties and small boats (McKenney et al. 1958, 

 Sutherland 1 977, Shipp 1 986). An estimated 1 ,079,000 

 were caught by anglers in the Gulf of Mexico during 

 1991 (Van Voorheesetal. 1992). It is used extensively 

 as bait along the southeast coast of the United States 

 (McKenney et al. 1958, NOAA 1985), especially for 

 larger reef fishes such as amberjacks, and fordeep sea 

 fishing forsailfish (McKenney et al. 1958). 



Indicator of Environmental Stress : The blue runner is 

 not typically used in studies of environmental stress. 



Ecological : The blue runner is a carnivorous species, 

 feeding throughout the water column (NOAA 1985). 



Range 



Overall : This fish is widely distributed in the western 

 Atlantic Ocean from Nova Scotia to Brazil, and through- 

 out the Gulf of Mexico (McKenney et al. 1 958, Fischer 

 1978, Johnson 1978, Goodwin and Johnson 1986). It 

 also occurs in the Caribbean, the West Indies, and 

 Bermuda. The areas of greatest abundance of blue 

 runner are the tropical waters along the southeast 

 coast of the United States along the western side of the 

 Gulf Stream and between the Florida current and the 

 shore, throughout the West Indies, and seasonally 

 throughout the Gulf of Mexico (McKenney et al. 1 958, 

 Allison 1961, Johnson 1978, Goodwin and Johnson 

 1986). It is particularly common along the lower east 

 coast of Florida (MacKenney et al. 1958). 



Within Study Area : Blue runner occur seasonally from 

 Tampa Bay, Florida to the Rio Grande, Texas (Goodwin 

 and Finucane 1985, Goodwin and Johnson 1986, 



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