Cobia

(Rachycentron canadum)

 

Maturity at: 43 cm in length

Max Published Size: 200 cm and 150 pounds

TnT Record: 105 pounds (unofficial)

TnT Season: Year round with peaks from May to Sep

IUCN status: Least concern

 

General Information: Adults occur in many different habitats: over mud, sand and gravel bottoms; over coral reefs and wrecks, off rocky shores and in mangrove sloughs; inshore around pilings and buoys, and offshore around drifting and stationary objects; rarely found in estuaries. Form small groups and may pursue small pelagic inshore. Feed on crabs, fishes, and squids. Spawn during the warm months in the western Atlantic; eggs and larvae planktonic. Caught in small quantities due to their solitary behavior. Good food fish; marketed fresh, smoked, and frozen. It's considered to be one of the most suitable candidates for warm, open-water marine fish aquaculture in the world. Its rapid growth rate and the high quality of the flesh could make it one of the most important marine fish for future aquaculture production.