Scombridae family of fish

The scombroid fish is a group of about 100 species that include mackerel, tuna, marlin and swordfish.

The term scombroid originated from the Scombridae family of fish, because these fish have high levels of histidine in the muscles.

It is a moderately common technical term in zoology, deriving ultimately from the Greek scombros = tuna, which also led via Latin to scomber as an uncommon English word for mackerel. Scombroid fish are deep seas species such as tuna bonito and mackerel.

Fish like mackerel can be found in the western Atlantic from North Caroline to Labrador and in the east from the Baltic Sea south through the Mediterranean and into North Africa.

Scombroid fish have characteristically high concentration of the amino-acid histidine, which is transformed by a bacterial decarboxylase enzyme into histamine.

This enzyme is found in bacteria belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae, particularly Proteus morganii, Klebsiella and Hafnia spp.
Scombridae family of fish