Caranx hippos (Linnaeus)

Oladipo, Segun Olayinka, Everett, Amaya, Atofarati, Olabisi Tawakalit, Smith, Kennedy K., Nneji, Ifeanyi C., Adelakun, Kehinde Moruf & Nneji, Lotanna Micah, 2025, An updated ichthyofaunal checklist for the Nigerian Lagos Lagoon with notes on nomenclatural changes and the conservation status of species, Zootaxa 5646 (1), pp. 38-62 : 50

Caranx hippos (Linnaeus) ;

Crevalle jack

Remarks: Caranx hippos was occasionally captured in Badagry during our field study. This species exhibits an elongated, deep, and moderately compressed body with a large eye. It is characterized by a first dorsal fin with eight spines, a second dorsal fin with a single spine and 20 soft rays. The body coloration is bluish black on the dorsal side and golden on the ventral side. A distinct oval black spot is present on the lower half of the pectoral fins, while the anal-fin lobe is entirely yellow. Other synonyms for C. hippos include Carangus esculentus (Girard), Caranx antilliarum (Bennett) , Caranx carangua (Lacépède) , Caranx carangus (Bloch) , Caranx defensor (DeKay) , Caranx erythrurus (Lacépède) , Scomber carangus (Bloch) , Scomber hippos (Linnaeus) , and Trachurus cordyla (Gronow) . Caranx hippos belongs to the C. hippos complex, along with its congeners—Pacific crevalle jack ( Caranx caninus Günther ) and longfin crevalle jack ( Caranx fischeri Cuvier ) ( Smith-Vaniz & Carpenter, 2007). First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1766 as Scomber hippos (Linnaeus) , based on a specimen from the Carolinas in the United States, C. hippos was initially grouped with mackerels before Carangidae was established as a separate family ( Smith-Vaniz et al., 1999). The genus Caranx was later established by Bernard Germain de Lacépède, who redescribed the crevalle jack as C. carangua . This naming was invalidated, although genus Caranx was recognized as valid. Nevertheless, the relationship between C. hippos and its congener— C. caninus (Pacific crevalle jack) continued to be contentious ( Smith-Vaniz & Carpenter, 2007). Early arguments proposed these taxa as conspecific, leading to trinomial names such as Caranx hippos hippos (Linnaeus) and Caranx hippos tropicus (Nichols) to distinguish subspecies. However, a modern review confirmed they are distinct species based on differences in hyperostosis development and anal fin coloration ( Smith-Vaniz & Carpenter, 2007) and also named individuals from eastern Atlantic as C. hippos .