By April, they have disappeared, heading north. East Coast, bluefish are found off Florida in the winter. Periodically, they leave the coasts and migrate in schools through open waters. They also enter estuaries and inhabit brackish waters. They are found in a variety of coastal habitats: above the continental shelf, in energetic waters near surf beaches, or by rock headlands. They are found in pelagic waters on much of the continental shelves along eastern America (though not between south Florida and northern South America), Africa, the Mediterranean and Black Seas (and during migration in between), Southeast Asia, and Australia. One extinct relative of the bluefish is Lophar miocaenus, from the Late Miocene of Northern California.ĭistribution Trolling for blue fish lithograph by Currier & Ives, 1866īluefish are widely distributed around the world in tropical and subtropical waters.

At one time, gnomefishes were included, but these are now grouped in a separate family, Scombropidae. The bluefish is the only extant species now included in the family Pomatomidae. Bluefish commonly range in size from seven-inch (18-cm) 'snappers' to much larger, sometimes weighing as much as 40 lb (18 kg), though fish heavier than 20 lb (9 kg) are exceptional. Its single row of teeth in each jaw is uniform in size, knife-edged, and sharp. Coloration is a grayish blue-green dorsally, fading to white on the lower sides and belly. The spiny first dorsal fin is normally folded back in a groove, as are its pectoral fins. The bluefish is a moderately proportioned fish, with a broad, forked tail. Bluefish are known as tailor in Australia and New Zealand, elf and shad in South Africa. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. The bluefish ( Pomatomus saltatrix) is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. Lopharis mediterraneus Rafinesque, 1810.

Cheilodipterus heptacanthus Lacepède, 1801.Cheilodipterus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766).

Bluefish aquarium