Greater Amberjack
Greater Amberjack (Seriola dumerili) is a saltwater species. The first thing to check: a dark olive stripe running diagonally from the upper jaw through the eye to the front of the dorsal fin. The look-alike to rule out is Almaco Jack: almaco jacks are deeper-bodied with a taller, more sickle-shaped front lobe on the soft dorsal fin.
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| Scientific name | Seriola dumerili |
|---|---|
| Also called | AJ, reef donkey, amberjack |
| Water | Saltwater |
| Group | Jack |
| Temperature | Found between about 65 and 80 °F, deeper in summer and shallower in the cooler months. |
How to identify a Greater Amberjack
- A dark olive stripe running diagonally from the upper jaw through the eye to the front of the dorsal fin.
- An amber to brassy horizontal band along the flank, brightest on feeding fish.
- A long body with a small first dorsal and no scutes on the tail base, unlike a crevalle jack.
Photograph the fish and the app will name it, though it returns this species as Amberjack rather than Greater Amberjack — the same fish under the label the app uses.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Almaco Jack | Almaco jacks are deeper-bodied with a taller, more sickle-shaped front lobe on the soft dorsal fin. |
| Lesser Amberjack | Lesser amberjack have proportionally larger eyes and a deeper body, and stay much smaller. |
Side-by-side comparisons
Read the full entry for Almaco Jack and Lesser Amberjack.
Where it lives
Atlantic, Gulf and Caribbean. Holds over deep wrecks, reef ledges, oil rigs and high spots, usually stacked in schools directly above structure.
Temperature
Found between about 65 and 80 °F, deeper in summer and shallower in the cooler months.
The conditions that matter
Amberjack are structure fish and current fish: a wreck holds them, but a running current turns them on. Depth and current speed matter far more than weather at the surface, and a log that records which wrecks produced on which tide is a directly reusable asset.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about greater amberjack into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.