Bonitos are a

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

of medium-sized,

ray-finned Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or ho ...

predatory fish in the family

Scombridae The mackerel, tuna, and bonito family, Scombridae, includes many of the most important and familiar food fishes. The family consists of 51 species in 15 genera and two subfamilies. All species are in the subfamily Scombrinae, except the butte ...

– a family it shares with the mackerel,

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...

, and

Spanish mackerel Scomberomorini is a tribe of ray-finned saltwater bony fishes that is commonly known as the Spanish mackerels, seerfishes or seer fish. This fish closely resembles the King Mackerel. This tribe is a subset of the mackerel family (Scombridae) ...

tribes, and also the butterfly kingfish. Also called the tribe Sardini, it consists of eight

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

across four genera; three of those four genera are

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

, having a single species each. Bonitos closely resemble the skipjack tuna, which is often called a bonito, especially in Japanese contexts.

Etymology

The fish's name comes from the Spanish ''bonito'' 'pretty'.''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...

'', 3rd edition, 2018
''s.v.''
/ref> An older theory suggests that it comes from an Arabic word ''bainīth'', but that may have been derived from Spanish as well.

Species

* Genus ''

Sarda Sarda may refer to : Places and jurisdictions * Sarda (Albanian Sardë), a ruined ancient town, on Shurdhah Island in northern Albania. * The former Diocese of Sarda, now a Latin Catholic titular see * Sarda river, a river which forms part of ...

'' (

Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in nat ...

, 1832) ** Australian bonito, ''S. australis'' (Macleay, 1881) ** '' Sarda chiliensis'' (Cuvier, 1832) *** Eastern Pacific bonito, ''S. c. chiliensis'' (Cuvier, 1832) *** Pacific bonito, ''S. c. lineolata'' ( Girard, 1858) ** Striped bonito, ''S. orientalis'' (

Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch aristocrat, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. From his father, Jacob Temminc ...

& Schlegel, 1844) ** Atlantic bonito, ''S. sarda'' (

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A–F * (1859-1914), French rabbi *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881-1925), Austrian entrepreneur * Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter * (born 1972), German motor journa ...

, 1793) * Genus '' Cybiosarda'' ( Whitley, 1935) ** Leaping bonito, ''C. elegans'' (Whitley, 1935) * Genus ''

Gymnosarda The dogtooth tuna ''Gymnosarda unicolor'', also known as white tuna, is a species of pelagic marine fish which belongs to the family Scombridae. Description The dogtooth tuna can reach a length of in males and a weight of .Collette, B.B. and ...

Gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they ar ...

, 1862 ** Dogtooth tuna, ''G. unicolor'' ( Rüppell, 1836) * Genus '' Orcynopsis'' Gill, 1862 ** Plain bonito, ''O. unicolor'' (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)

Food

Pacific and Atlantic bonito meat has a firm texture and a darkish color. The bonito has a moderate fat content. The meat of young or small bonito can be of light color, close to that of skipjack tuna, and is sometimes used as a cheap substitute for skipjack, especially for canning purposes, and occasionally in the production of cheap varieties of katsuobushi that are sold as ''bonito flakes''. Bonito may not, however, be marketed as

in all countries. The Atlantic bonito is also found in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

, where it is a popular food fish, eaten grilled, pickled (''

lakerda Lakerda is a pickled bonito dish eaten as a mezze in the Balkans and Middle East.Diane Kochilas, ''The Glorious Foods of Greece'', 2001, , p. 20excerpt/ref> ''Lakerda'' made from one-year-old bonito migrating through the Bosphorus is especially ...

Etymology

Species

Food

See also

References

Citations

Sources