Black jack in Los Cabos

How to recognize it

Deep, oblong, compressed body with a steep, angular head profile that gives it a hump-headed look. The front lobes of the second dorsal and anal fins are long and pointed, the pectoral fins are longer than the head and the tail is strongly forked. Body and fins are mostly uniform dark gray to black, though some fish look lighter olive-gray with darker fins and tail. There is a small dark spot at the upper corner of the gill opening, and the straight rear part of the lateral line carries 26 to 32 large scutes that are often black.

Biology

The black jack lives in tropical seas around the world. In the eastern Pacific it ranges from southern Baja and the mouth of the Gulf of California to Panama and all the offshore islands, and the Smithsonian notes that it is most commonly seen on reefs around oceanic islands. It is an oceanic, island fish that keeps to clear water and is not common on shallow banks; it is sometimes seen along drop-offs at the outer edge of reefs, from about 3 to 380 m deep.

Adults hunt fish at night and sometimes form schools. Eggs are pelagic. It reaches about 100 cm; the heaviest on record is the 18.8 kg IGFA world record fish, and the oldest recorded was 12 years old.

How it's caught in Los Cabos

Around Los Cabos the black jack is a rare catch. It prefers clear oceanic water near islands, offshore banks and deep drop-offs, so when one turns up it is usually over deep structure rather than along the beaches. In Mexico it is most common at the Revillagigedo Islands, whose nearest island lies roughly 400 km (250 mi) south of Cabo.

It is caught on heavy jigs and live bait fished deep over rocky structure. It is a strong, stubborn fighter that dives for the rocks, so use heavy line and a firm drag. Sport fishing is not allowed inside Cabo Pulmo National Park.

On the table

Marketed mainly fresh, also dried or salted, in its range. FishBase lists reports of ciguatera poisoning for this species, so many anglers release it.

Rules, records & conservation

Rare near Los Cabos; most common at the Revillagigedo Islands.

Don't confuse it with

The bigeye trevally (Caranx sexfasciatus) is silver, with a very large eye and a white tip on the dark dorsal lobe. The jack crevalle (toro, Caranx caninus) is blue-green above and silvery to yellowish below, with a black blotch on the lower pectoral fin and yellowish tail and anal fins. The bluefin trevally (Caranx melampygus) is brassy with small blue-black spots and electric-blue fins. The almaco jack (Seriola rivoliana) has no scutes and a dark band from the snout to the dorsal fin. The black jack is dark overall, with a steep head and black scutes.

Questions

By Max VargasTop Anglers, Cabo San Lucas · international judge at big game fishing world championships · reviewed October 2026

Sources

• Smithsonian Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific: black jack
• FishBase: Caranx lugubris
• FishBase: Caranx lugubris in Mexico
• Reef Life Survey: Caranx lugubris
• IGFA world records: black jack
• ETYFish Project: Carangidae etymology
• Smithsonian Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific: bigeye trevally
• Smithsonian Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific: Pacific crevalle jack
• Smithsonian Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific: bluefin trevally
• Smithsonian Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific: almaco jack
• NOM-017-PESC-1994, 2013 amendment (DOF)
• NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, 2019 annex (DOF)
• Aburto-Oropeza et al. 2011, Cabo Pulmo recovery (PLOS ONE)

Top illustration: Top Anglers. Photos: iNaturalist contributors, credited on each photo.