The horse mackerel has an elongated, gray body with blue hues on the back and silver shades on the belly and sides. It lives in the northeast Atlantic, the Madeira Archipelago and the Mediterranean Sea, where it can be found from the surface to the bottom of the sea, in coastal areas between 100 to 200 meters deep. It forms large shoals that undertake substantive migrations, feeding on small fish, crustaceans and molluscs. It reproduces from December to April. Other names for the horse mackerel include scad, saurel and European horse mackerel.