Kings are aptly named; of the three mackerels common in Florida, they're by far the biggest and fastest, and the most-admired among anglers. They reach lengths of at least six feet, and the current IGFA all-tackle record is 93 pounds even, for a fish caught off Puerto Rico in 1999.

Kingfish At A Glance Average Size: 4 to 20 pounds. State Record: 90 pounds, caught off Key West. World Record: 93 pounds, caught off Puerto Rico. Range: Most abundant along the entire Florida coastline; also found in the Bahamas and Greater Antilles. Illustration by Brian Sylvester

Kings are "green water" fish for the most part, traveling the band of water between the beaches and the indigo depths of the continental shelf. Preferred depths seem to be anything from 20 to 250 feet, with some big ones found at times on the deep edge of the continental shelf and over deepwater wrecks.

They segregate by size, with the largest fish, sometimes known as "smokers" because of what they can do to the drag of a reel, frequently found nearest the beach. The trophy-sized fish often hang around the outfall from large passes, where the brackish bay water meets the green sea water, and where they can whack big mullet, ladyfish and other jumbo mouthfuls. Big kings are thought to reach 40 mph on the first sprint when hooked; their speed is improved by a slippery coating they exude when frightened, and by the fact that their fins fold down into grooves on the body, turning them into streamlined torpedoes.

They usually feed by rushing into a school of baitfish and snapping off the tails of anything slower than they are. They then return to finish the meal. On larger baits, they sometimes "skyrocket," coming up in an open-jawed rush from below that may carry them 10 feet into the air.

Kings spawn from June through September, according to biologists with the Florida Marine Research Institute, and they spawn repetitively rather than all-at-once, releasing eggs in intervals throughout the summer. The eggs and sperm are broadcast in the open sea, with most of the spawning thought to take place in the northern Gulf of Mexico and off Cape Hatteras. The juveniles that escape predation spend their early lives in open water, growing fast (over 1.5 inches per month) then head back south with the migrations of adults as the water temperature sinks below 68 degrees.

Young kings look a lot like Spanish mackerel, right down to the brownish-yellow dots on the side-these dots disappear with maturity, as the fish becomes an overall silvery steel-gray with shades of green on the back. An easy way to distinguish young kings from Spanish is the dorsal, the front of which is coal black on Spanish, gray on kings. Another indicator is the lateral line, which takes a sharp dip about halfway back along the body of a kingfish; the same line on a Spanish declines more gradually toward the rear.

At the end of their first year, kings are about 20 inches long. Female kings begin to spawn at age four and weights of 8 to 9 pounds, males at age three and weights of 5 to 7 pounds. Females live longer and grow larger than males; most tournament winners are female. The oldest kingfish recorded was age 21, though 13 is thought to be a more typical lifespan. Fish that reach 20 pounds and lengths around 40 inches are likely to be 10 years old.

Kings migrate south in late fall to mix and mingle off the Florida Keys and the waters between Miami and Palm Beach throughout winter. In summer, they split into two stocks, with the Gulf stock heading up the west coast of Florida, the Atlantic stock heading up the east coast. The Gulf fish winter in north Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana waters, while the Atlantic fish migrate as far north as Virginia.

Kings were once the most common "big-fish" species in Florida waters, but overfishing by both commercial and recreational fishermen collapsed the stocks by about 1975. The numbers have slowly rebuilt since then, but are not yet approaching the days when anglers routinely landed 50 to 100 per boat.

As top-level predators, kings eat a lot of baitfish, squid and shrimp for every pound they gain. For that reason, they concentrate heavy metals in their flesh. This spring, the federal government issued a warning against eating kings over 30 inches long from either the Gulf or the Atlantic due to mercury contamination.

(Thanks to scientists at the Florida Marine Research Institute for information used in this report.)