Bluefish
| Bluefish | |
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| Family: | Pomatomidae
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| Genus: | Pomatomus Lacépède, 1802
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| Species: | P. saltatrix
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| Binomial name | |
| Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766)
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The bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) is the only extant species of the Pomatomidae family. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and tropical waters. Bluefish are known as tailor in Australia,[1] shad on the east coast of South Africa, elf on the west coast, lüfer[2] in Turkey, and similarly, Луфарь/lufar' in Russian. Other common names are blue, chopper, and anchoa.[3] It is good eating and a popular gamefish.
The bluefish is a moderately proportioned fish, with a broad, forked tail. The spiny first dorsal fin is normally folded back in a groove, as are its pectoral fins. Coloration is a grayish blue-green dorsally, fading to white on the lower sides and belly. Its single row of teeth in each jaw are uniform in size, knife-edged and sharp. Bluefish commonly range in size from seven-inch (18-cm) "snappers" to much larger, sometimes weighing as much as 40 pounds (18 kg), though fish heavier than 20 pounds (9 kg) are exceptional.
Distribution
Bluefish are widely distributed around the world in tropical and subtropical waters. They are found in pelagic waters on much of the continental shelves along eastern America (though not between south Florida and northern of South America), Africa, the Mediterranean and Black Seas (and during migtration in between), Southeast Asia and Australia. They are typically found in clear, energetic waters near surf beaches or by rock headlands. They also enter estuaries and inhabit brackish waters. Periodically, they leave the coasts and migrate in schools through open waters.[4][5]
Bluefish are found off Florida in the winter months. By April, they have disappeared, heading north. By June, they may be found off Massachusetts; in years of high abundance, stragglers may be found as far north as Nova Scotia. By October, they leave New England waters, heading south (and some are present in the Gulf of Mexico throughout the year). In a similar pattern, the economically significant population that spawns in Europe's Black Sea migrates South through Istanbul (Bosphorus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles, Aegean Sea) and on toward Turkey's Mediterranean coast in the autumn for the cold season.[6]
Life history
Adult bluefish are typically between 20 and 60 cm long, with a maximum reported size of 120 cm and 14 kilograms. They reproduce during spring and summer, and can live for up to 9 years.[4][5] Bluefish fry are zooplankton, and are largely at the mercy of currents. Spent bluefish have been found off east central Florida, migrating north. As with most marine fish, their spawning habits are not well known. In the western side of the North Atlantic, at least two populations occur, separated by Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. The Gulf Stream can carry fry spawned to the south of Cape Hatteras to the north, and eddies can spin off, carrying them into populations found off the coast of the mid-Atlantic, and the New England states.
Feeding habits
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Bluefish blitz – YouTube | |
| Bluefish Feeding Frenzy – YouTube | |
| Fishing for Gator Bluefish – YouTube |
Adult bluefish are strong and aggressive, and live in loose groups. They are fast swimmers which prey on schools of forage fish, and continue attacking them in feeding frenzies even after they appear to have eaten their fill.[4][5] Depending on area and season, they favor menhaden and other sardine-like fish (Clupeidae), jacks (Scombridae), weakfish (Sciaenidae), grunts (Haemulidae), striped anchovies (Engraulidae), shrimp and squid. They are cannibalistic and can destroy their own young.[7] Bluefish sometimes chase bait through the surf zone, attacking schools in very shallow water, churning the water like a washing machine. This behavior is sometimes referred to as a "bluefish blitz".
In turn, bluefish are preyed upon by larger predators at all stages of their life cycle. As juveniles, they fall victim to a wide variety of oceanic predators, including striped bass, larger bluefish, fluke (summer flounder), weakfish, tuna, sharks, rays, and dolphins. As adults, bluefish are taken by tuna, sharks, billfish, seals, sea lions, dolphins, porpoises, and many other species.
Bluefish should be handled with caution due to their ability to snap at unwary hands. Fishermen have been severely bitten, and it can help to wear gloves. It a not good idea to wade or swim among feeding bluefish schools.[8] In July 2006, a seven-year-old girl was attacked on a beach, near the Spanish town of Alicante, allegedly by a bluefish.[9]
Commercial fisheries
As can be seen on the capture chart, the bluefish population is highly cyclical, with abundance varying widely over a span of ten years or more.[11]
Management
Bluefish is a highly sought-after sportfish (and restaurant fish in some places) that had been widely overfished across the world's fisheries of this species. [12] Restrictions set forth by management organizations have somewhat helped the species' population stabilize. Mid-Atlantic bluefish were at unhealthy levels in the late 1990s, but skillful management has resulted in North Atlantic stocks being fully rebuilt by 2009 [13] In other parts of the world, public awareness efforts like Bluefish festivals, combined with catch limits, may be having positive effects in reducing the stress on the regional stocks.[14] Some of these efforts are regionally controversial. [15]
Other uses
Bluefish are often caught and used as live bait for tuna, shark, or billfish.
Similar species
Bluefish are the only members now included in the Pomatomidae family. At one time, gnomefishes were included, but these are now in grouped in a separate family, Scombropidae.
Notes
- ^ CAAB taxon report for Pomatomus saltatrix at the CSIRO
- ^ See Turkisk Vikipedi, http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCfer; also see, http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/istanbul-celebrates-new-hope-for-a-favorite-fish-with-first-annual-la14fer-festival.html
- ^ "Bluefish Identification". Retrieved 2009-02-17.
- ^ a b c Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2006). "Pomatomus saltatrix" in FishBase. March 2006 version.
- ^ a b c Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766) FAO, Species Fact Sheet. Retrieved October 2012.
- ^ http://www.slowfood.com/slowfish/pagine/eng/pagina.lasso?-id_pg=199
- ^ Schultz, Ken (2009) Ken Schultz's Essentials of Fishing John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470444313.
- ^ Lovko, Vincent J. (2008) Pathogenicity of the Purportedly Toxic Dinoflagellates Pfiesteria Piscicida and Pseudopfiesteria Shumwayae and Related Species ProQuest. ISBN 9780549882640.
- ^ "Un depredador rápido y muy voraz con dientes de sierra (in Spanish)" El País, July 14, 2006
- ^ Based on data sourced from the FishStat database
- ^ Ulanski, Stan (2011) Fishing North Carolina's Outer Banks University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807872079.
- ^ http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/3/531.full
- ^ Bluefish FishWatch, NOAA. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
- ^ http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/istanbul-celebrates-new-hope-for-a-favorite-fish-with-first-annual-la14fer-festival.html
- ^ http://mosselbaai.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/pomatomus-saltatrix-shad-or-elf/
References
- "Pomatomus saltatrix". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 30 January 2006.
