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Bonefish

SPECIES INFORMATION

  • Bonefish or Albula vulpes is a species from the Albulidae or the Bonefish family from the Albuliformes order. This species is found in south Florida (228 miles), Bermuda and the Bahamas.  The Bonefish is also known as banana fish or ladyfish. It stays in the inland waters and the shallow coastal waters in the tropical seas. Its speed and strength is what are admirable.
  • The Bonefish has a notched caudal fin near its tail and it has a small mouth beneath the pig like pointed snout. It feeds at the bottom looking for worms and other food. The Dixonina nemoptera or the shafted Bonefish is the other member that belongs to this family
  • Fishing is done in the shallow inshore waters and it may be done from a shallow raft or by wading. Fly fishing or Bonefishing is a popular sport in southern Florida and in the Bahamas. The Bonefish is an important gamefish and its flesh is bony. The fish is prized among the anglers but because of the many bones that this fish has, it is released and not used as food. There is also a minor risk of ciguatera poisoning to humans who eat this fish.

SIZE

The maximum length of the Bonefish is 76 cms or 30 inches and the maximum weight that it achieves is 6.4 kgs or 14 pounds. In the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, the fish reaches a maximum length if 31 inches or 77 cms and a weight of roughly 14 pounds. The Bonefish from Hawaii and Africa may even attain a weight of 20 pounds or 9.1 kgs. The Bonefish may live for more than 19 years.

RANGE

Bonefish inhabits the warm and temperate waters across the world. The western Atlantic Bonefish is taken at times to as far in the north as northern California, New Brunswick. This species is found in plenty in south Florida, Bermuda, and the Bahamas. In the south, these fishes range from Brazil to the Caribbean Sea. On the eastern Pacific Coast, the Bonefish will occur from the San Francisco, Bay California, south to Peru and in the west to Hawaii.

HABITAT

The Bonefish is a coastal species and it can be found in the mangrove areas, intertidal flats, deep adjacent waters and in the river mouths. The flats could be sandy, grassy or even rocky substrates. The Bonefish is able to tolerate the water that is poor in oxygen that they may have to encounter at times in the coastal waters. This they do by inhaling the air into their air bladder that is lung like.

The Bonefish spawns in the open waters. Their eggs are pelagic. The amphidromous species lives in the tropical waters inshore and then moves into the shallow mudflats to feed the incoming tide. The adult and the juveniles tend to shoal together and they may move either alone or in pairs.

DIET

The Bonefish thrives on benthic worms, molluscs, fry, and crustaceans. The drop-offs, ledges and the clean and healthy seagrass give it a lot of prey like shrimp and crabs. The Bonefish also tends to follow the stingrays to catch the small animals that root from the substrate.

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