Like the other crevalle jacks, the species is a strong gamefish and sought after by anglers in West Africa.

At least one hypothermia-driven mass mortality of 200 crevalle jacks has been reported from the Slocum River in Massachusetts, indicating low-temperature mortality is a major concern for north-ranging groups of the species, with temperatures below 9.0 C apparently being lethal to the fish.

Other names include common jack, black-tailed trevally, couvalli jack, black cavalli, yellow cavalli and a host of generic names, such as horse mackerel and crevalle.

The chest is completely scaled, which easily distinguishes it from the similar crevalle jack, Caranx hippos.

Caranx hippos (Crevalle jack)

There has, however, been considerable debate in the past as to whether the Pacific crevalle jack is the same species as its Atlantic counterpart, Caranx hippos.

As the state of fish taxonomy progressed, the species was transferred to both Caranx and Carangus, with the name Caranx hippos now accepted.

Prior to its description in 1825, the species was often confused with the similar-looking Atlantic species Caranx hippos, and its synonym Caranx carangus.

The former was an attempt to separate the 'subspecies' on each side of the Americas, while the latter was an unnecessary name to divide the Atlantic Caranx hippos into subspecies.

There has been significant disagreement on the status of the species in the scientific literature, with many claiming it to be conspecific with or subspecific to the Atlantic Caranx hippos (crevalle jack).

The crevalle jack, Caranx hippos (also known as the common jack, black-tailed trevally, couvalli jack, black cavalli and yellow cavalli) is a common species of large marine fish classified within the jack family, Carangidae.

The species is very similar to the crevalle jack, Caranx hippos, and is separated by its extended dorsal and anal fin lobes as well as more detailed anatomical features including dorsal and anal fin ray counts.

Even after its initial description, the giant trevally (and the bigeye trevally) were often confused with the Atlantic crevalle jack, Caranx hippos, due to their superficial similarity, which led to some authors claiming the crevalle jack had a circumtropical distribution.

The species is part of what William Smith-Vaniz and Kent Carpenter term the Caranx hippos species complex, a group of three closely related and anatomically similar species, which also includes Caranx hippos (Crevalle jack) and Caranx fischeri (Longfin crevalle jack).