Dispatch Method:

The eating qualities of highfin amberjack can be greatly improved if they are killed immediately by iki jime, or a firm knock to the head before placing them in an ice slurry after bleeding.

Fish Description:

• A robust , torpedo shaped fish, brown or silvery blue-green dorsally, pale cream or silvery ventrally, with a yellow midlateral stripe usually present.
  
• Highfin amberjack are distinguished from greater amberjack by the much higher dorsal fin, as well as the presence of the nuchal bar, which is an oblique, brown band passing through the eye to the edge of the upper lip.
  
• The nuchal band is particularly prominent in juvenile fish, but fades in adult fish, often being absent in larger fish. Juvenile fish also have 6-7 dark vertical bars along the flanks.
  
• Fins are dark or yellowish grey (except pelvic fins which are white ventrally).
  
• This species feeds almost exclusively on fish and squid, but juveniles may also feed on crustaceans.

Fish Distribution:

• This species is found circumglobally in warmer tropical and subtropical seas, including the Eastern and Western Atlantic Oceans, and throughout the Indo-Pacific region, including northern Australia south to Perth on the west coast and Jervis Bay in NSW.
  
• Adult highfin amberjack are almost exclusively found around oceanic reef structures, including coral reefs, to depths of up to 250 meters (800 feet), and are seldom encountered inshore.
  
• Juveniles may recruit inshore to sargassum lines and other floating objects.

Fish Size Common Length:

60-90 cm (2-3 feet) long, maximum size 160 cm (over 5 feet) and 60 kg (120 lb)