Bigeye Scad "Goggle Eye" (Bait Fish)

Less than one foot.

Family	Carangidae
Description	Jacks and pompanos
Environment	Brackish & Marine
Etymology	French, carangue = name of fish given in Caribe.1836
Genus	30
No. of Species	146
Order	Perciformes
Class	Actinopterygii
Reproductive Guild	Nonguarders
Distribution	Chiefly marine; rarely brackish. Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Body generally compressed, although body shape extremely variable from very deep to fusiform. Most species with only small cycloid scales. Scales along lateral line often modified into spiny scutes. Detached finlets, as many as nine, sometimes found behind dorsal and anal fins. Large juveniles and adults with 2 dorsal fins. Anterior dorsal fin with 3-9 spines; the second having 1 spine and usually 18-37 soft rays. Anal spines usually 3, the first 2 separate from the rest; soft rays usually 15-31. Widely forked caudal fin. Caudal peduncle slender. Pelvic fins lacking in Parona signata. Vertebrae 24-27 (modally 24). Fast swimming predators of the waters above the reef and in the open sea. Some root in sand for invertebrates and fishes. One of the most important families of tropical marine fishes; fished commercially and for recreation.

Gog, Goggle-eye Jack

Reefs and other outside waters; also in and near inlets. May also enter larger bays and river mouths. Adults prefer clear oceanic waters around islands to neritic waters. Occasionally in turbid waters. Pelagic. Individuals travel in compact groups of hundreds of thousands of fish. Mainly nocturnal in habit, they disperse at night to feed on small shrimps, benthic invertebrates, and forams when inshore, and zooplankton and fish larvae when offshore

Elongated, cylindrical body with forked tail. Scutes forward of tail. Color is steel blue above and on the sides; silvery below. Very large eyes. Dorsal spines (total): 9; Dorsal soft rays (total): 24-27; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 21 - 23.

Summary of Distribution: Circumtropical. Indo-Pacific: East Africa to Rapa, north to southern Japan and the Hawaiian Islands, south to New Caledonia. Eastern Pacific: Mexico to Peru, including the Galapagos Islands. Western Atlantic: Nova Scotia, Canada and Bermuda through the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean to to São Paulo, Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: Cape Verde to southern Angola
Note: Distribution range colors indicate degree of suitability of habitat which can be interpreted as probabilities of occurrence (fishbase.org)

Most Goggle-eyes are caught at night, either deliberately as potential bait, or accidentally while chumming and bottom fishing. In either case, light spinning tackle is generally used. Bait fishermen tempt their Goggle-eyes with small jigs, often tied in tandem or series.