Lesser Amberjack
Lesser Amberjack (Seriola fasciata) is a saltwater species. The first thing to check: proportionally very large eyes for the head, larger than a greater amberjack's at the same size. The look-alike to rule out is Greater Amberjack: greater amberjack are far larger and more elongate with proportionally smaller eyes; a small greater amberjack and a lesser can only be told apart by eye size and body depth.
Last updated
| Scientific name | Seriola fasciata |
|---|---|
| Water | Saltwater |
| Group | Jack |
| Temperature | Common between 66 and 80 °F. |
How to identify a Lesser Amberjack
- Proportionally very large eyes for the head, larger than a greater amberjack's at the same size.
- A deeper body than a greater amberjack, with a dark olive bar through the eye.
- The smallest Atlantic Seriola — mature adults are usually well under ten pounds.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Greater Amberjack | Greater amberjack are far larger and more elongate with proportionally smaller eyes; a small greater amberjack and a lesser can only be told apart by eye size and body depth. |
| Almaco Jack | Almaco have a tall sickle-shaped front lobe on the soft dorsal that the lesser amberjack lacks. |
Side-by-side comparisons
Read the full entry for Greater Amberjack and Almaco Jack.
Where it lives
Deeper water in the western Atlantic and Gulf, typically well offshore over hard bottom and deeper than the other amberjacks.
Temperature
Common between 66 and 80 °F.
The conditions that matter
Lesser amberjack live deep and are caught more often by accident than design, usually while bottom fishing structure. The identification matters because a juvenile greater amberjack and an adult lesser are the same size, and only one of them is legal to keep at that length.
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 lesser 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.