Pomatomus saltatrix, Bluefish : fisheries, aquaculture, gamefish, bait

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Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766)

Bluefish
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Pomatomus saltatrix   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Pomatomus saltatrix (Bluefish)
Pomatomus saltatrix
Picture by Wirtz, P.

United States (contiguous states) country information

Common names: Bluefish
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: minor commercial | Ref: FAO, 1994
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: gamefish: yes;
Comments: Absent from southern Florida (Ref. 7251). Abundant along the east and Gulf coasts; a major sport fish (Ref. 9987). Also Ref. 276, 4751, 26938.
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html
National Fisheries Authority: http://www.nmfs.gov
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Tassergal, Anjova, Луфарь, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Scombriformes (Mackerels) > Pomatomidae (Bluefishes)
Etymology: Pomatomus: Greek, poma, -atos = cover, operculum + Greek, tomos = portion (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; brackish; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 200 m (Ref. 54708). Subtropical; 53°N - 44°S, 98°W - 180°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Circumglobal: In tropical to subtropical waters; except the eastern Pacific (Ref. 33390). Eastern Atlantic: Portugal to South Africa, including the Mediterranean and Black Sea, Madeira, and the Canary Islands. Western Atlantic: Canada and Bermuda to Argentina (Ref. 7251). Indian Ocean: along the coast of East Africa, Madagascar, southern Oman, southwest India, the Malay Peninsula, and Western Australia (Ref. 11441). Southwest Pacific: Australia except the Northern Territory, and New Zealand (Ref. 11441). Absent from eastern Pacific and northwest Pacific. Barely entering the Western Central Pacific region. Records from the Northern Territory, Australia and from Indonesia appear to be erroneous (Ref. 9860). Occurrence in Taiwan (Ref. 5193) and Hawaii (Ref. 4517) need verification.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 30.0  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 130 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 11441); common length : 60.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3482); max. published weight: 14.4 kg (Ref. 4699); max. reported age: 14 years (Ref. 128525)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 8 - 9; Dorsal soft rays (total): 23 - 28; Anal spines: 2 - 3; Anal soft rays: 23 - 27. Jaw teeth prominent, sharp, compressed, in a single series. Two dorsal fins, the first short and low, with 7 or 8 feeble spines connected by a membrane. Back greenish, sides and belly silvery (Ref. 9860).
Body shape (shape guide): fusiform / normal; Cross section: compressed.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Occur in oceanic and coastal waters (Ref. 26340). They are most common along surf beaches and rock headlands in clean, high energy waters, although adults can also be found in estuaries and into brackish water (Ref. 6492). Small fish may be found in shallow coastal waters at least 2 m depth (Ref. 9563), in schools pursuing and attacking small fishes (Ref. 9626). Adults are in loose groups, often attacking shoals of mullets or other fishes and destroying numbers apparently far in excess of feeding requirements (Ref. 9860). Feed on other fish (Ref. 5377), crustaceans and cephalopods (Ref. 47377). Associated with sharks and billfishes (Ref. 26340). Voracious and aggressive (Ref. 9626), reported to bite when handled. Migrate to warmer water during winter and to cooler water in summer (Ref. 9987). Popular game fish (Ref. 6638). Good food fish; marketed mostly fresh (Ref. 9860), but also dried or salted (Ref. 5284), and frozen (Ref. 9987).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Fecundity varies from 400,000 to 2,000,000 eggs depending on the size of the individual (ranging from 370,000 in a 31 cm fish to 1,240,000 in a 54 cm fish) (Ref. 27695). Tailor are serial spawners (Ref. 6390).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Dooley, J.K., 1990. Pomatomidae. p. 721-722. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2. (Ref. 9986)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)

  Vulnerable (VU) (A2bd); Date assessed: 07 July 2014

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Traumatogenic (Ref. 27695)





Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes; bait: usually
FAO - Aquaculture systems: production; Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
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Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
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Eggs
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References

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Aquaculture systems: production; Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | GoMexSI (interaction data) | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OceanAdapt | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | OsteoBase: skull, spine | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 8.4 - 27.5, mean 21.1 °C (based on 1273 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 1.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01072 (0.00844 - 0.01360), b=2.96 (2.89 - 3.03), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.5   ±0.3 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 6.1 (4.1 - 8.1) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 14 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.09-0.4; tm=2.4; tmax=14; Fec=1 million).
Prior r = 0.47, 95% CL = 0.31 - 0.71, Based on 3 full stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (42 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate to high vulnerability (46 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Very high.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 35.4 [23.1, 58.7] mg/100g; Iron = 1.68 [0.54, 4.47] mg/100g; Protein = 20 [19, 21] %; Omega3 = 0.417 [0.268, 0.647] g/100g; Selenium = 28.5 [15.9, 46.0] μg/100g; VitaminA = 12.4 [4.6, 33.9] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.539 [0.407, 0.733] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.