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Pacific bonito | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Scombriformes |
Family: | Scombridae |
Genus: | Sarda |
Species: | S. lineolata |
Binomial name | |
Sarda lineolata | |
Synonyms | |
Pelamys lineolataGirard, 1858 |
Pacific bonito, Sarda lineolata, is a marine species of bonito that is a game fighter but not highly thought of as a food fish. Sarda lineolata was thought to be a subspecies of Sarda chiliensis due to the large separation in their range. However, genetic analysis has shown that they are likely the same species. [2] This fish has been mostly found schooling in the open ocean [3] and live up to depths of 110 meters. [4]
It is colored blue to violet above, with metallic luster becoming silvery ventrally. It has ten or eleven stripes on its back running obliquely from the dorsum forward, and fifteen or more rakers below the angle on the first gill. The first dorsal fin is contiguous with the second and longer than the head. The caudal peduncle is slender, and the body entirely scaled. It has no teeth on the vomer. It has a small keel on either side of the median keel on the sides of the caudal peduncle, and six to eight finlets on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the caudal peduncle. The maximum length is about 40 inches and weight 25 pounds. Females are larger than males at maturity at around 55 cm vs 50 cm. However, males reach maturity around two years sooner. [5] There are no external differences between males and females of any Sarda. [6]
When off the California coast, it is easy to identify these fish because they are the only tuna-like fish in this area that have dark slanted stripes on their dorsal side. [7]
The Pacific bonito has two separate populations with different ranges. The Northern population is typically found between Southern California and Central Baja California. However, they can be found as far North as Southern Alaska in warmer years. [9] The Southern population can be found off the coast of Northern Peru to Chile. [2] The species can be found up to several hundred miles off the coast, but is most abundant in areas 15 miles or less off the coast. [10]
Pacific bonito usually travel in schools. This species migrates up the coast with the seasons. They can migrate up to 600 miles and move south in the winter where temperatures are warmer and north for the summer. [10]
Fish and squid are its main diet. Bonitos were found to eat primarily Northern Anchovy. [10] They have also been known to eat rockfish, hake, sardines, saury and mackerel. From January to June, during their spawning season, they have been found to eat equal amounts of mackerel and squid. [11]
Pacific bonito are a fast-growing species which makes them more resilient to overfishing. Currently, their population is believed to be in stable condition. Not much information on their status is currently known though and more research will need to be done to know for sure. Estimating the populations of this species is also difficult due to them moving around a lot and quickly. [7]
It is caught by trolling and still fishing, using feather lures, spoons, or live bait. Although there is not a lot of information about this species’ role in the ocean, it does serve as a food source for predators such as swordfish, bluefin tuna, striped marlin, sea lions, and dolphins as well as some sharks. [7]
Mature Pacific bonito are most commonly found in open ocean environments of up to 300 ft and swim in schools. Younger individuals are more often found in kelp forests where they have places to hide. [9] There is evidence to suggest younger individuals may even be found in harbors and bays. [3]
Pacific bonito have an average lifespan of 6-8 years in the wild. [12] Pacific bonito males reach sexual maturity at one year old whereas it takes females to 3 years to reach sexual maturity. [5] This species has been observed performing some courtship behavior and has been observed releasing gametes simultaneously after swimming together in a circle. [6] Pacific bonito can spawn multiple years and begin spawning earlier in the season the older they get. They produce eggs which are free floating and take around three days to hatch. [7] They exhibit slight sexual dimorphism during mating and courtship, but only during those times and are otherwise indistinguishable. [13]
In typical years, the Northern part of this species’ population resides in Southern California during spring and summer. They can be found farther north during El Nino, but not during normal years. [9] The changing climate may shift their range further north for the foreseeable future. They may also decide not to travel south at all if waters stay warm enough. Becoming resident, has been witnessed in individuals in this species in the past near powerplants due to the way they kept water warm, so this species becoming resident with increased ocean temperatures is entirely possible. [9]
The mackerel, tuna, and bonito family, Scombridae, includes many of the most important and familiar food fishes. The family consists of 51 species in 15 genera and two subfamilies. All species are in the subfamily Scombrinae, except the butterfly kingfish, which is the sole member of subfamily Gasterochismatinae.
The albacore, known also as the longfin tuna, is a species of tuna of the order Scombriformes. It is found in temperate and tropical waters across the globe in the epipelagic and mesopelagic zones. There are six distinct stocks known globally in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. The albacore has an elongate, fusiform body with a conical snout, large eyes, and remarkably long pectoral fins. Its body is a deep blue dorsally and shades of silvery white ventrally. Individuals can reach up to 1.4 m in length.
The Atlantic mackerel, also known as Boston mackerel, Norwegian mackerel, Scottish mackerel or just mackerel, is a species of mackerel found in the temperate waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and the northern Atlantic Ocean, where it is extremely common and occurs in huge shoals in the epipelagic zone down to about 200 m (660 ft). It spends the warmer months close to shore and near the ocean surface, appearing along the coast in spring and departing with the arrival of colder weather in the fall and winter months. During the fall and winter, it migrates out into deeper and more southern water, seeking warmer temperatures.
Bonitos are a tribe of medium-sized, ray-finned predatory fish in the family Scombridae – a family it shares with the mackerel, tuna, and Spanish mackerel tribes, and also the butterfly kingfish. Also called the tribe Sardini, it consists of eight species across four genera; three of those four genera are monotypic, having a single species each. Bonitos closely resemble the skipjack tuna, which is often called a bonito, especially in Japanese contexts.
The Atlantic blue marlin is a species of marlin endemic to the Atlantic Ocean. It is closely related to, and usually considered conspecific with, the Indo-Pacific blue marlin, then simply called blue marlin. Some authorities consider both species distinct.
The Southern California Bight is a 692-kilometer-long stretch of curved coastline that runs along the West Coast of the United States and Mexico, from Point Conception in California to Punta Colonet in Baja California, plus the area of the Pacific Ocean defined by that curve. This includes the Channel Islands of California and the Coronado Islands and Islas de Todo Santos of Baja California.
The Atlantic horse mackerel, also known as the European horse mackerel or common scad, is a species of jack mackerel in the family Carangidae, which includes the jacks, pompanos and trevallies. It is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean off Europe and Africa and into the south-eastern Indian Ocean. It is an important species in commercial fisheries and is listed as a Vulnerable species on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The dogtooth tuna, also known as white tuna, is a species of pelagic marine fish which belongs to the family Scombridae. Despite the name “tuna”, it is not actually a tuna. Instead, it is a bonito.
The silver sweep, also known as the false pompano, sweep, trumps or windawindawi, is a species of marine ray-finned fish from the subfamily Scorpidinae of the sea chub family Kyphosidae. It is native to the southwestern Pacific Ocean from Australia to New Zealand.
The butterfly kingfish is an ocean-dwelling ray-finned bony fish in the mackerel family, Scombridae – a family which it shares with the tunas, mackerels, Spanish mackerels, and bonitos. It, however, represents a lineage distinct from all other scombrids and has therefore been placed in its own genus Gasterochisma and subfamily Gasterochismatinae.
Sarda chiliensis, the eastern Pacific bonito, is a marine species of bonito. It ranges from Ecuador to Chile. Sarda lineolata, which ranges from Alaska to Mexico was formerly considered a subspecies, as Sarda chiliensis lineolata, but this treatment renders the species geographically disjunct.
The Atlantic bonito is a large mackerel-like fish of the family Scombridae. It is common in shallow waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea, where it is an important commercial and game fish.
The yellow jack, also known as coolihoo, is a species of marine fish in the jack family, Carangidae. It is one of only two representatives of its genus present in the Atlantic Ocean, inhabiting waters off the east coast of the Americas from Massachusetts in the north to Brazil in the south, as well as a number of offshore islands. The yellow jack can be distinguished from closely related species by the length of the jaw, as well as counts of the rays in the fins. It is a fairly large fish, growing to a recorded maximum length of 1 metre (39 in), and a weight of at least 14 kilograms (31 lb). Yellow jack inhabit reefs, moving either individually or in schools and are predatory fish which primarily take other small fish. Studies in the Caribbean suggest the species reaches sexual maturity between 23 and 32 centimetres, and spawns in offshore waters from February to October. Yellow jack are of minor economic importance, taken by both hook and net methods, and are considered to be fair table fish. They are often caught by boat anglers, although are overlooked for their larger relatives.
The topsmelt silverside, also known as the topsmelt, is a species of Neotropical silverside native to the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Naso brevirostris, also known as the short-nosed unicornfish, spotted unicornfish, brown unicornfish, lined unicornfish, longnose surgeonfish, palefin unicornfish, paletail unicornfish, shorthorned unicornfish or shortsnouted unicornfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae, the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs. It occurs in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.
The snake mackerel is the sole species of fish in the monotypic genus Gempylus, belonging to the family Gempylidae. It is found worldwide in tropical and subtropical oceans between the latitudes of 42°N and 40°S; adults are known to stray into temperate waters. It is found to a depth of 600 meters. Populations of the snake mackerel from the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific differ in vertebral count and number of first dorsal fin spines, and so may represent separate species.
The Indo-Pacific blue marlin is a species of marlin belonging to the family Istiophoridae.
The torpedo scad, also known as the hardtail scad, finny scad, finletted mackerel scad or cordyla scad, is a species of moderately large marine fish classified in the jack and horse mackerel family, Carangidae. The torpedo scad is distributed throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific region, ranging from South Africa in the west to Tonga in the east, extending to Japan in the north and Australia in south. It is a schooling pelagic fish which occupies the surface layers of both inshore and offshore oceanic waters. The torpedo scad is easily identified by both its 'torpedo' shaped body and a series of detached finlets at the rear of both the dorsal and anal fins. The largest recorded individual was 80 cm long and weighed 4 kg, although it is more common at lengths less than 40 cm. It is a predatory species, taking a variety of fish, cephalopods and crustaceans by both active and filter feeding. There is a shift in diet as the species grow; however fish is the dominant prey in all size classes. Torpedo scad reach sexual maturity at 22 cm in females and 26.4 cm in males, with spawning occurring between March and July in India, where significant research into larval growth and morphometrics has been carried out.
Sarda is a genus of medium-sized, predatory ray-finned fish in the family Scombridae, and belonging to the tribe Sardini, more commonly called the bonito tribe. There are four species which comprise the genus Sarda. One of those species, the Pacific bonito, is further divided into two subspecies.
The Japanese jack mackerel, also known as the Japanese horse mackerel or Japanese scad, is a species named after its resemblance to mackerel but which is in the family Carangidae, the jacks, pompanos, trevallies and scads. Their maximum reported length is 50 cm (20 in) with a common length of 35 cm (14 in). They have a maximum reported weight of 0.66 kg (1.5 lb) and a maximum reported age of 12 years. They are found around the coast of Japan, except Okinawa Island, usually on sandy bottoms of 50–275 m (164–902 ft) deep. They feed mainly on small crustaceans such as copepods, as well as shrimp and small fish. They are similar to the yellowtail horse mackerel around New Zealand and Australia, apart from having more gill rakers and larger eyes.