Courtesy of Greg Barsh, Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre. ... In tabby cats, “mackerel” cats have a normal Taqpep gene that creates dark, narrow, vertical stripes on a light background.

Those tabby markings come in two main varieties: proper vertical stripes of dark on a light background, known as the mackerel pattern, and a blotched variety consisting of less-organized, dark whorls.