species_x_change, round 35: the Spanish Mackerel.
Once again, I had the great fortune to receive a species I had barely heard of - I didn't even know there was more than one kind of mackerel - and to find, when I looked it up, that it was one of the most beautiful fish I'd ever seen.

I also found out that not everyone can identify them. Half the pictures I found while looking for references were of completely different fish.

I couldn't decide whether to do a realistic or stylized picture, so I eventually just did both. These were drawn with Prismacolor brush pens (again), with the addition of colored pencils.

Incidentally, getting a fish this round means that, in just six rounds of the Species_X_Change, I have drawn all five orders of vertebrates - birds, reptiles, mammals, amphibians, and fish. This makes me unreasonably happy. Now I can start on the invertebrates...

Many thanks to whoever chose this species!