Bluefish

Bluefish
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Pomatomidae Gill, 1863
Genus:	Pomatomus Lacépède, 1802
Species:	P. saltatrix
Binomial name
Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766)

The bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) is a kind of fish which occurs in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. It is a pelagic fish, which means that it lives near the surface of the ocean. They can grow to a size of 150 centimetres (59 in) and reach a weight of 15 kilograms (33 lb). In the wild, they live to be about nine years old.

Bluefish are predators: they hunt other fish, in small groups. Bluefish are caught commercially, and there is a problem with overfishing.

Sometimes another species, Rock salmon or Coal fish is erroneously called Bluefish.

It is the only species in the family Pomatomidae, in the genus Pomatomus.

One extinct relative of the bluefish is Lophar miocaenus, from the Late Miocene of Southern California.