Atlantic Saury

The saury is a long, slender surface fish with both jaws drawn out into a fine beak and a series of small finlets behind the dorsal and anal fins, much like a miniature mackerel. Silvery below and greenish-blue above, it lives in open water over the cool shelf and offshore grounds of the Western and Eastern Cape.

Saury travel in schools and feed on plankton and tiny animals near the surface, and when pursued they leap and skitter across the water in long, gliding hops that give them their skipper nickname. They are an important forage fish for tuna, snoek and dolphinfish rather than an angling or diving target, and are seldom seen close inshore.