Bluefish
Bluefish is the “predator” in fact it feeds exclusively on other fish and cephalopods. Its favorite preys are mullets even if in this video we see it hunting in a few meters of depth, trying to capture salemas present in numerous specimens in a herd.
As always, the encounter is lightning-fast and lasts only a few seconds, in fact the Serras do not let themselves be distracted when they are hunting and it is extremely difficult to get close. By slowing down and enlarging the video we managed to extrapolate some images of this splendid fish.
Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix Linnaeus, 1766) is a sea fish. It is the only one belonging to the Pomatomidae family.
Distribution and habitat
It is a cosmopolitan species in tropical and subtropical waters. It is common in the seas of Italy and in the rest of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Black Sea; in the eastern Atlantic Ocean it is found as far north as Portugal. Its abundance varies from year to year, in some periods it is very common and then disappears for entire years. It is migratory, moving to warmer waters in winter.
It is a typical pelagic fish, in summer it approaches the coasts and, being euryhaline, it penetrates the mouths of the rivers to hunt the mullets of which it is greedy.
Description
Apparently similar to the carangids of the Genus Seriola, it is distinguished by its mouth armed with strong jaws equipped with very robust and razor-sharp triangular teeth. The body is fusiform, slender, the fins are robust, the pectoral fins quite large, the ventral ones small while the dorsal fin is divided into two portions, the more anterior one is low and equipped with small spiny rays, the rear part is instead higher, symmetrical and opposite to the anal. The caudal fin is strong and forked. The scales are very small.
The color is silvery gray on the back while it is lighter on the sides and belly, the fins are olive-colored and there is a black spot at the base of the pectoral fin. It reaches more than a meter in length for over 10 kg in weight.
Diet
This species represents the paradigm of the predator, in fact it feeds exclusively on other fish and cephalopods. Its favorite preys are mullets and to hunt them it does not hesitate to penetrate even kilometers into the mouths of rivers. It is very voracious, when a school of these fish is hunting it leaves behind a trail of dead and mutilated fish.
Reproduction
Occurs in summer, the eggs are pelagic.
Biology
It is a gregarious species, the young gather in very numerous herds, the adults in smaller groups.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomatomus_saltatrix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluefish
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