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 language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

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 hor ...

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

y 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 butterfly ...

– a family it shares with the

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

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 The butterfly kingfish (''Gasterochisma melampus'') is an ocean-dwelling ray-finned bony fish in the mackerel family, Scombridae – a family which it shares with the tunas, mackerels, Spanish mackerels, and bonitos. Unlike the 50 species from th ...

. 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 appropriate s ...

across four

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

; 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 "unispec ...

, having a single species each. Bonitos closely resemble the

skipjack tuna The skipjack tuna (''Katsuwonus pelamis'') is a medium-sized perciform fish in the tuna family, Scombridae. It is otherwise known as the balaya (Sri Lanka), bakulan/kayu (North Borneo), tongkol/aya (Malay Peninsula/Indonesia), aku (Hawaii), cakal ...

, 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 com ...

'', 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'' (

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 The Australian bonito, horse mackerel or little bonito, ''Sarda australis'' is a fish of the family Scombridae and is found in eastern Australia and New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pac ...

, ''S. australis'' (Macleay, 1881) ** '' Sarda chiliensis'' (Cuvier, 1832) ***

Eastern Pacific bonito ''Sarda chiliensis'', the eastern Pacific bonito, is a marine species of bonito Bonitos are a tribe of medium-sized, ray-finned predatory fish in the family Scombridae – a family it shares with the mackerel, tuna, and Spanish mackerel tri ...

, ''S. c. chiliensis'' (Cuvier, 1832) ***

Pacific bonito Pacific bonito, ''Sarda lineolata'', is a marine species of bonito that is a game fighter but not highly thought of as a food fish. While it has been considered to be a subspecies of '' Sarda chiliensis'', recent treatments recognize it as a spec ...

, ''S. c. lineolata'' ( Girard, 1858) **

Striped bonito The striped bonito (''Sarda orientalis'') is a species of marine perciform fish. They have been recorded at lengths of , though they are commonly no longer than . Distributed through the Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeograph ...

, ''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 Temmin ...

Schlegel Schlegel is a German occupational surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anthony Schlegel (born 1981), former American football linebacker * August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767–1845), German poet, older brother of Friedrich * Brad Schlege ...

, 1844) **

Atlantic bonito The Atlantic bonito (''Sarda sarda'') is a large mackerel-like fish of the family Scombridae. It is common in shallow waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea, where it is an important commercial and game fish. De ...

, ''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 journal ...

, 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 C. ...

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 are ...

, 1862 **

Dogtooth tuna 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 C. ...

, ''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

, and is sometimes used as a cheap substitute for skipjack, especially for canning purposes, and occasionally in the production of cheap varieties of

katsuobushi is simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna (''Katsuwonus pelamis'', sometimes referred to as bonito). It is also known as bonito flakes. ''Katsuobushi'' or similarly prepared fish is also known as . Shaved ''katsuobushi'' and dried ke ...

that are sold as ''bonito flakes''. Bonito may not, however, be marketed as

in all countries. The

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 the e ...

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, Roma ...

, where it is a popular food fish, eaten grilled, pickled ('' lakerda''), or baked.

References

Citations

Sources