Chloroscombrus chrysurus
Small silvery jack that forms schools, with a dark saddle-shaped mark at the base of the tail. Very common in bays, beaches and estuaries; used as food and bait.
Also called: palombeta, pilombeta, favoleta, garapau, juva, Atlantic bumper
The palombeta is a small, tall, flattened jack that forms schools in the coastal zone and enters lagoons and estuaries. In the western Atlantic it ranges from Massachusetts to Uruguay, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, and in the eastern Atlantic from Spain to Angola. Adults stay over soft shelf bottoms, sometimes near the surface; juveniles are common in brackish water and often travel with jellyfish. They eat small fish, squid, zooplankton and detritus. FishBase gives a common length of 25 cm and maturity at 12.4 cm; the 'maximum' of 65 cm is doubtful, since the largest published weight is 121 g. It is a commercial fishery species, sold fresh and salted, and appears in beach and shrimp trawls.
Tall, flattened body, metallic blue on top and silver below, with a short head and blunt snout. The easiest sign is the dark saddle-shaped mark at the base of the tail, plus another mark on the top of the gill cover. It has two dorsal fins, the second and anal fins long and similarly shaped, small round scales, and an upper tail lobe larger than the lower. Weak scutes appear only at the tip of the lateral line, near the tail. The xixarro and xerelete have a larger eye or well-marked scutes along the whole lateral line.
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All of the Brazilian coast, in bays, beaches, estuaries, coastal lagoons and the inner shelf. Continues through the western Atlantic from Massachusetts to Uruguay, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. In the eastern Pacific it is replaced by Chloroscombrus orqueta, which FishBase says may be the same species.
Habitat: Shallow waters of bays, beaches and estuaries, and soft bottoms of the inner shelf, down to about 110 m; juveniles stay in brackish water, often with jellyfish.
coast
It appears all year, but in the Southeast and South the schools come closer to shore in the warm months. In the Northeast and North it varies little.
Daytime. Schools are active by day near the surface and bottom; at night they disperse.
Cold water in the South pushes the schools farther from the beach.
Not very sensitive.
Small effect.
It tolerates brackish water; it only disappears when the inlet turns fresh and muddy.
Not applicable at sea.
The school tolerates an anchored boat, but scatters when an engine is near.
A choppy sea scatters the schools off the beach.
The rising tide brings the school into bays and river mouths.
From the surface to about 30 m for most shore catches.
lures
natural baits
accessories
For live bait, release it from the hook with a wet hand and put it in the live well with running water; it loses scales easily and dies fast if squeezed.
Summary of the regulations we found, with the source for each. Rules change; before keeping or transporting fish, check with the state environmental agency.
Conservation: It is not on the Brazilian national list (Portaria GM/MMA nº 1.667/2026). There is a federal minimum size of 12 cm in the Southeast and South.
It is forbidden to fish for, keep aboard or land palombeta under 12 cm total length along the coast of Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. The rule does not apply to fish caught by trawl, and enforcement tolerates up to 20% of the catch weight below the size.
Source: Instrução Normativa MMA nº 53/2005, arts. 2º and 4º and Annex II (MMA)
Small and fragile: if you will not use it as bait or food, release it right away without squeezing or scraping the scales, preferably with a wet hand.
Dark, tasty flesh from a small fish, good fried whole, pickled in escabeche or salted. FishBase says it is sold fresh and salted. It is also widely used as bait for larger predators.
Length-weight relationship W = a·Lb (a = 0.0123, b = 2.94; FishBase (relação peso-comprimento bayesiana, estimativa da própria espécie)). It's an average: a fat or lean fish can vary by 10% to 20%.
estimated weight
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The seasonal weights (months), the time of day and the sensitivities (cold, pressure, moon, wind, rain, tide, strong light, murky water and noise) are the app's editorial estimates, drawn from the literature below and from field experience of anglers and guides. They are not official data nor measurements made for this species, and they may vary by region and year. Closed seasons and legal rules appear in the rules section, with the norm and a link. Common sizes and weights are ranges around the common length given by FishBase, with weight calculated from the length-weight relationship. FishBase gives 65 cm maximum length, but the maximum published weight is 121 g and the common length is 25 cm; the app keeps FishBase's values and treats 65 cm as a doubtful extreme.
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