Help identify fish

[Zummie]

Fished this week near Manzanillo, Mexico (Pacific coast) and besides catching stripped marlin and yellow fin, caught a ton of these smaller fish the locals call a "Chula". Any one here know the English name ? Personally, I liked the taste better than the tuna but it was slightly similar.

[N2theBlue]

skipjacks, great tuna and black and blue marlin bait

[gottaflylee]

Very close to the Atlantic Bonito Sarda sarda Other Names: common bonito, katonkel, belted bonito

[Captain Fred Archer]

Gotta Fly gotta it.

Pacific bonito, called "barrilete blanco" in Cabo. Beautiful looking, nasty teeth, great fighters, and as you noted, very good eating, both cooked and sashimi. Nice, white meat.

As also noted by The Fly, very similar, if not the same exact species, as the Atlantic bonito.

Those were real nice ones!

[Zummie]

Now, I'm confused. We often see huge school of what I called bonita and the local Mexican fishermen call a "barilette". These are easily caught on the sruface with Mahi lures and we have often trolled them alive with a large hook sewn to the top of their noses for blue marlin. The bonita/barilette are very bloody red meat and not edible unless you are stranded without food on an island.

The fish the locals call "Chula" that I have pictured above were caught trolling with a plainer and a Rapalla style lipped lure down deep. The meat is far lighter than the bonita/barilette and very tasty, cooked any style but delicious as ceviche.

[SeaBiscuit]

There is a good deal of confusion regarding the naming of small tunas. As captains Lee and Fred already pointed out the pictured fish are real bonito, pacific and atlantic. Teeth, light colored meat, excellent eating.
Many fishermen on both coasts call little tunny (a very wide spread subtropical and temperate tuna) bonito. Some call the black skipjacks of the tropical pacific bonito. Many call the same Atlantic fish false albacore. All of these, regardless of local name have dark red meat, are larger than true bonito, no teeth, edible, but not good.

I hope this helps.
SeaBiscuit

[The Codfather]

AKA Bait. Remove small hook, replace with larger hook. Release.

[Barebowyer]

Those fish are in fact Bonitos. The others commonly referred to are Little Tunnys! They are identified by 3 to 5 dark spots on the belly as well!!!

[gottaflylee]

Those fish are in fact Bonitos. The others commonly referred to are Little Tunnys! They are identified by 3 to 5 dark spots on the belly as well!!!

Barebowyer, welcome to SFC...

This time you are mistaken, these are not "little Tunny" above.

Here is a "little Tunny", they have no teeth so to speek...may or may not have spots, one of each...

[Bert Rodgers]

skipjacks, great tuna and black and blue marlin bait

Definately not skippies. Skipjacks have stripes on their bellies. Bonitas on their backs.



http://www.sportfishinggrancanaria.c...pjack_tuna.gif