Skip to content
Bluefish
SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Other fish (coast and sea)

Bluefish

Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766)

VU VulnerableOn Suriname's list of threatened fauna

Names

EnglishBluefish
DutchBlauwbaars
SpanishAnjova
Chinese扁鲹
Scientific namePomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766)

About this species

The bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. Bluefish are known as tailor in Australia and New Zealand, elf and shad in South Africa. It is a popular gamefish and food fish.

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 is uniform in size, knife-edged, and sharp. Bluefish commonly range in size from "snappers" of 7 in (18 cm) to much larger, sometimes weighing as much as 30 lb (14 kg), though fish heavier than 20 lb (9 kg) are exceptional.

Read more on Wikipedia · Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Classification

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
OrderPerciformes
FamilyPomatomidae
GenusPomatomus