Longjawed Mackerel filtering zooplankton from the water for food.
These weird and wonderful fish are the Longjawed Mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta). They swim around with their mouths open and gill rakers exposed, filtering zooplankton from the water for food. They swim in densely packed schools and are widespread throughout the Indo-Pacific, but this encounter here at Palau was our first glimpse of them on the Global Reef Expedition. That evening the Longjawed Mackerel was at the top of the ‘Did you see that?!’ list for the lucky few of us that got to observe them!
