Scad (Caranx trachurus, or Trachurus trachurus) a fish of the family Carangidae, sometimes called the Horse Mackerel, because of its resemblance to the mackerel, and its comparative coarseness. It is from 12 to 16 inches long, of a dusky olive colour, changing to a resplendent green, waved with a bluish gloss, the head and lower parts silvery, the throat black. It has two dorsal fins, the first short, the second long, and one long ventral fin opposite the second dorsal. There are two small free spines in front of the anal fin. The ordinary scales are very small, but those of the lateral line are large, spiny, and strongly keeled, the keel terminating in a curved spine. The species of Caranx are very numerous, and it is sometimes divided into several genera; but the scad is the only species found on the British coasts. It is common on the south-western coasts of England, but comparatively rare to the north. It sometimes appears in immense shoals, pursuing the fry of herring or similar prey, and the multitudes have sometimes been so great and so crowded together that they could be lifted out of the sea by buckets, and overloaded nets have been torn to pieces. The scad has something of the mackerel flavour. Although not much cared for when fresh, it is often salted, and in that state is esteemed as an article of food in Cornwall and the Scilly Isles. This species has a very wide range: it is rare on the west coast of Norway, but abounds along the coasts of France and Portugal and in the Mediterranean. It is found along all the Atlantic coast of Africa to the Cape of Good Hope, and is also abundant in Australia and New Zealand, and on the west coast of South America.