Bluefish - Pomatomus saltatrix
*Information from FAO Species Identification Guide Western Central Atlantic*
Size
Maximum to 110 cm; commonly to 60 cm.
The IGFA all-tackle gamefish record is 14.40 kg
for a fish caught in North Carolina in 1972.
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Habitat, biology, and fisheries
Usually found in coastal temperate and subtropical waters. A powerful, swift fish, the young hunting in
schools, the adults in loose groups. Voracious
visual feeders renowned for their appetites,
schools of actively feeding bluefish have attacked
bathers. Caught mainly with gill nets, lines, and purse seines; commonly taken on hook-and-line by sports fishermen in the USA. FAO statistics report landings ranging from 756 to 1 458 t from 1995 to 1999. Marketed mostly fresh but also makes an excellent smoked product.
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Distribution
Coastal temperate and subtropical waters of the world except absent from the eastern Pacific
and the Indo-West Pacific north of the equator. In the western Atlantic known from Bermuda, the Atlantic coast of North America (Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico) and South America (Colombia to Argentina) but absent from the Bahamas,West Indies (except for the northern coast of Cuba), and Caribbean coast of Central America.
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