Albulidae - Bonefish

There are around 10 species of fish in this family. They are bottom-dwellers and are usually found in shallow, brackish waters in estuaries, reefs, bays, and grass flats in tropical and warm temperate waters around the world. They can survive in oxygen-poor water by inhaling air into their lung-like air bladders.

Bonefish have a long, thin fusiform body. A fusiform body is rounded and tapered at both ends - like a torpedo. They are silvery-gray with a greenish or bluish back, and they have dark streaks that run between the rows of scales along their sides. Bonefish have a single black dorsal fin and a large, forked black caudal fin. They have a long, cone-shaped snout that they use to poke in the mud and silt for prey like worms, shrimp, fish, crabs, and mollusks.

Bonefish usually travel in loosely formed schools. They go to the sea to spawn. Young bonefish remain in open ocean waters until they are about two inches in length when they return to inshore shallow, brackish waters.

In North America, the bonefish is found along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It is most plentiful in South Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. The threadfin bonefish is found along the coasts of Mexico and Central America.

World Status Key
Least Concern Near Threatened Vulnerable Endangered Critically Endangered Extinct in Wild Extinct Not Enough Data
Status and range is taken from ICUN Redlist.

U.S. Status Key Threatened in US Endangered in US Status taken from US Fish and Wildlife. Click on U.S. status icon to go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife species profile.

New Hampshire Status Key Threatened in NH Endangered in NH Introduced Status taken from NH Fish and Game

Location Key
Africa Asia Australia/Oceania Europe North America South America NH Click for More Info Click for Image
Arctic Ocean Atlantic Ocean Indian Ocean Pacific Ocean Southern Ocean

New Hampshire Species		North/Central American Species
None		Bonefish - Albula vulpes Eastern Pacific Bonefish - Albula esuncula Longjaw  Bonefish - `O`io - Albula virgata (Hawaii) Longjaw Bonefish - Albula argentea (Hawaii) Shortjaw Bonefish- Albula glossodonta (Hawaii) Threadfin Bonefish - Albula nemoptera

Species Around the World
Longfin Bonefish - Pterothrissus belloci Japanese Gissu - Pterothrissus gissu		Korean Bonefish - Albula koreana Smallscale Bonefish - Albula oligolepis

Additional Information

Resource Key
Profile Photos Video Audio

Bonefish - Albula vulpes
In the U.S., the bonefish is found off the Florida, California, and Hawaiian coasts. Occasionally they are found further north.
Source: Animal Diversity Web Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School

Bonefish - Albula vulpes
Bonefish are commonly found in intertidal flats, mangrove areas, river mouths, and deeper adjacent waters.
Source: Florida Museum of Natural History Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School

Bonefish - Albula vulpes
The bonefish is a popular game fish, but it is rarely eaten.
Source: FishBase Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School

Threadfin Bonefish - Albula nemoptera
The threadfin bonefish is found in waters off of Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama
Source: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School

Eastern Pacific Bonefish - Albula esuncula
The eastern pacific bonefish is found in waters from southern California to Ecuador.
Source:Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School

Japanese Gissu - Pterothrissus gissu
The Japanese gissu is found in waters off the coasts of China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia, and Taiwan.
Source: FishBase Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School

Korean Bonefish - Albula koreana
The Korean bonefish is found in waters off the coasts of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Source: FishBase Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School

Longfin Bonefish- Pterothrissus belloci
The longfin bonefish is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean coast of Africa from Mauritania south to Namibia.
Source: FishBase Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School

Longjaw Bonefish - Albula argentea
The longjaw bonefish is found in waters off of Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Indonesia, Japan, Madagascar, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and the Hawaiian Islands.
Source: FishBase Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School

Longjaw  Bonefish - `O`io - Albula virgata
The longjaw bonefish is found around the Hawaiian Islands where it is known as the `O`io .
Source: FishBase Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School

Shortjaw Bonefish - Albula glossodonta
The shortjaw bonefish is also known as the roundjaw bonefish. It is found from Hawaii and French Polynesia to the Seychelles in the western Indian Ocean, north to southern Japan and south to Australia.
Source: FishBase Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School

Smallscale Bonefish - Albula oligolepis
The smallscale bonefish is found from the east coast of South Africa to Thailand.
Source: FishBase Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School