Albula vulpes
Bonefish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Albuliformes (Bonefishes)
Albulidae (Bonefishes)
Albula
Albula vulpes (Bonefish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Elongate, slender, and robust body; conical snout; inferior mouth; deeply forked caudal fin; snout 12% to 14% of SL and about 2 times eye diameter; snout projects about one-third of its length beyond symphysis of upper jaw; maxilla does not extend to eye; 13 or 14 branchiostegal rays; 7 to 8 and 9 to 10 gill rakers on upper and lower limbs of first gill arch; dorsal fin has 17 or 18 rays, last ray not elongated; anal fin has 8 or 9 rays; 72 to 74 vertebrae; 65 to 71 lateral scale rows; axillary scales of pectoral fin one-half length of fin
Silvery bluish or greenish dorsally and bright silvery laterally and ventrally; tip of snout blackish
Distribution
Western Atlantic from New Brunswick in the Bay of Fundy to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, including Bermuda, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Antilles
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate seas, inshore species; depth range not specified
Soft bottoms
Biology
Benthic invertebrates (polychaetes, bivalve mollusks, squids, shrimps, crabs) and small fishes
Maximum known size of adults is 77 cm TL; smallest known juvenile is 23 mm SL
Spawning apparently takes place offshore; leptocephalous larvae have 65 to 73 total myomeres, 62 to 72 preanal myomeres, and 40 to 61 predorsal myomeres; larvae go through two stages of rapid length increase separated by a stage of length decrease
Inhabits shallow coastal waters, estuaries and bays, over sand and mud bottoms (Ref. 3237). Often in schools, except large individuals which are solitary (Ref. 7251). Dorsal fin may show above surface (Ref. 42064). More or less pelagic but feeds on benthic worms, crustaceans, and mollusks (Ref. 2850); that are picked from mud and sand bottoms (Ref. 27549). Tolerates oxygen poor water by inhaling air into a lung-like airbladder (Ref. 9710). Flesh is bony and not esteemed (Ref. 9268). One of the most important game fishes worldwide (Ref. 26938).
IUCN Red List Status: Near Threatened (NT), assessed 2011-03-29. Resilience: Low (K=0.3; tm=2; tmax=20).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish.
References
Hildebrand 1963b
Eldred 1967
Richards 1969
Hoese and Moore 1977
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Boschung 1992
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Smith, M.M. (1986) Albulidae. p. 157. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Whitehead, P.J.P. (1990) Albulidae. p. 122-124. 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. 1.
Jones, P.W., F.D. Martin and J.D. Hardy Jr. (1978) Development of fishes of the Mid-Atlantic Bight. An atlas of eggs, larval and juvenile stages. Vol. 1. Acipenseridae through Ictaluridae. U.S. Fish Wildl. Ser. Biol. Serv. Program FWS/OBS-78/12. 336 p.
Shaklee, J.B. and C.S. Tamaru (1981) Biochemical and morphological evolution of Hawaiian bonefishes (Albula). Syst. Zool. 30(2):125-146.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii (eds.) (1983) Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 p.
Sierra, L.M., R. Claro and O.A. Popova (1994) Alimentacion y relaciones tróficas. p. 263-284. In Rodolfo Claro (ed.) Ecología de los Peces Marinos de Cuba. Instituto de Oceanología Academia de Ciencias de Cuba and Centro de Investigaciones de Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Crabtree, R.E., C. Stevens, D. Snodgrass and F.J. Stengard (1998) Feeding habits of bonefish, Albula vulpes, from the waters of the Florida Keys. Fish. Bull. 96:754-766.
Comments On Albula vulpes