Fish Id: A Guide To East Coast Fishes

The Bluefish(snapper blue, skip mackerel, snapping mackeral)

Pomatomus saltatrix

Not actually a mackerel despite the nicknames above, it belongs to the family Pomatomidae, the only fish in this family. Average weight 2 lbs, can get up to 20 lbs. A greenish, iridescent blue shading into silver on the sides. Baby bluefish, called snapper blues, are more flatish, and are found in the local lagoons from late May through September. The base of the pectoral fin usually has a black blotch. There are two dorsal fins, as you can see by the photo on the left, the front dorsal being more spiney, closely placed together. The mouth is large, with triangular teeth and a slightly protruding lower jaw. They range along most of the Atlantic coast, following schools of small bait fish. The larger fish travel farther out, in groups generally being around the same size fish, blues having the tendancy to eat their smaller members as well as the bait fish. Large schools are usually smaller fish, the larger fish schooling in smaller numbers. They usually appear in this area around mid-to late April.
Bluefish bait.

NJ Surf pictures taken 10/13/07. Bluefish school chasing peanut bunker down the beach from north down to IBSP (an 18 mile run tight to the coast). The blues were 10 to 20 lb'rs. These photos taken at 9:30 am. IBSP report was at 9 p.m. that night. Just a neat photographic opportunity caught by Jim Bramble. Click images to view larger.
In this you can just see the first shadows of fish in the surf	Ominous shadows.
This is not a place you'd want to be standing!	In this photo you can almost see the peanut bunker in shallows of the foreground..many were driven right out of the surf to flop on the beach.

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