The bluefish belongs to the Pomatomidae family. It can be found around the world. Bluefish are usually found in subtropical and temperate water and can reach up to 30 pounds. They usually have bluish backs and silver sides and underbelly.
They are popular in gastronomy and sport. Bluefish is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. It contains a lot of omega-3 fatty acids, which are very beneficial to our bodies and health.
Including fish in your diet is smart because it’s one of the essential foods for maintaining health. It is nutritious, and it’s one of the main sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Fats have a positive effect on our cardiovascular system and can prevent different diseases. In addition, they also lower good cholesterol, bad cholesterol, and triglycerides.
How do you separate white from bluefish? The criteria are not precisely defined, but the categorization is mostly based on nutritional facts. For example, bluefish can be found in deeper water which makes its meat richer in lipids.
Bluefish also have a concentration of intramuscular fat that can go over 5%. Whitefish has almost 2%. Semi-fatty fish like bass have between 2% and 5% fat.
There are a lot of types of bluefish, so let’s learn some of them!
Tuna
Tuna fish is very fast. It is shaped like a torpedo which gives it speed and easy movement. It also has special muscles for swimming, enabling it to cruise through the oceans at 43 miles per hour.
It can also be impressive in size. Tunas can reach 10 feet in size and weigh over 2000 pounds, more than a horse.
They pass great lengths throughout their lifetime. Some can be born in Europe and pass the Atlantic Ocean to come to Mexico.
Tunas are the most valuable commercial fish because they’re a part of millions of people’s diets. There are many species of tuna, too; skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye, and albacore. Skipjack makes half of the global tuna catch.
Sardine
The name sardine can relate to common herrings or other small herrings canned in oil. Sardines come from the herring family, Clupeidae.
The European sardines can come from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean coast in Spain, France, Portugal, and Britain. Some sardines come from North America, called Clupea harengus.
Sardines are very small and have elongated bodies, and don’t have any scales on their head. They are mostly used for fresh fish markets, bait, drying, smoking or salting, and fish meal or oil.
They are caught at night with nets when they rise to the surface to eat plankton. When caught, they are submerged in brines. Sardines are frequently caught for animal food and their oil is used to produce paint, varnish, and margarine.
Anchovy
Anchovy is a term that connects every saltwater fish related to herrings. They are recognizable by their largemouth, which is extended behind the eye. They also have a pointed snout.
There are more than 100 species of anchovy. Most of them live in tropical or warm seas.
Anchovies typically live near rivers and in freshwater. Their eggs are very special. They’re transparent and float. Their growth is very rapid, and they eat plankton. Anchovies can be 4 to 10 inches in length.
Anchovies are caught for gastronomy purposes, but tropical ones are mostly used as bait.
Red mullet
Red mullets are very popular in gastronomy and make one of Europe’s most-known delicacies. They are species of goatfish found in the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the Black Sea.
Their liver is very popular in European cuisine. They are low in fat and high in protein. They have a very distinctive crimson color, and they can be orange, too. You can easily remove their scales.
They are small, usually from 10 to 14 inches in length, and weigh half a pound. It is traditionally believed that the smaller the fish is, the taste is better.
Salmon
An adult salmon usually weighs around 10 pounds, but a king salmon’s average weight is 23 pounds. There are also some which weigh 50 – 80 pounds, and they are not uncommon.
Pacific salmon spend most of their lives in the ocean. As adults, they return to the stream where they were hatched to spawn. The salmon die soon after this, while Atlantic salmon return to the ocean in 2 – 3 years.
The sockeye salmon also uses Earth’s magnetic field to navigate itself back to its stream from the ocean. They are silver-sided, but when they are spawning, their color changes.
Atlantic salmon is praised as a sport fish, and they are farmed in fish pens worldwide.
Trout
Trout is a very prized fish in games and food. They are typically restricted to freshwater, but there are a few species that immigrated to the sea. They are related to salmon.
They are raised in hatcheries and transferred to their new habitats in water.
Trouts usually live in cool freshwater with submerged objects surrounding them. They also tend to find their home among deep pools or in riffles.
Their original home is the Northern Hemisphere, but they are widely spread to other areas.
Trout eat small fish and their eggs.
Mackerel
Mackerel is fish found in tropical or warm waters. It is caught for sport and food. It lives all around the world.
They are torpedo-shaped, and they have a forked tail. They are carnivorous, and they eat plankton, fish eggs, and small fish.
The spawn occurs during summer and spring along the coastlines. Their eggs are usually very small. The common mackerel of the Atlantic Ocean is found in big schools and is economically important. It is usually 12 inches long. It lives in the North Atlantic, Spain, and Norway.
Common mackerel is blue or green and has wavy, vertical lines along its side. It has two dorsal fins and two small keels on the sides of its tail base.
Eel
Eels belong to Anguilliformes. They are freshwater fish, and their elongated bodies and worm-like features characterize them. Their body is covered in scales.
Throughout their life, they pass different stages, from the leptocephalus stage, larval phase, and metamorphosis stage, in which they turn into smaller versions of adults.
They are usually 4 inches long. They live deep in the ocean and are greatly diverse in tropical areas. Eels can be black, grey, and rainbow-colored. The only eels which are economically important are the freshwater ones.
They migrate during spawning seasons. They swim very slowly and are considered solitary fish.
Swordfish
Swordfish are the only fish representing the family Xiphiidae. It is found in warm and tropical waters all around the world.
It is an elongated fish, and it has no scales on its body. It has a tall dorsal fin and a long sword. It is used when attacking prey. The sword is flat. Marlins and other spear-nosed fish usually have rounded swords.
It lacks pelvic fins and teeth. The swordfish can be purple or bluish above and silver below. Its maximum length is 15 feet, and it can weigh up to 1000 pounds.
Swordfish in Italy are traditionally caught using a boat called “the felucca.” These boats are very fast and use a harpooner who catches the fish.
Turbot
Turbot is a highly valued European fish. It has a broad body, and it’s left-sided. Both of its eyes are on the left side of its body. Its body is scaleless, but it’s covered in bumps, knobs, and tubercles.
It can reach a length of 40 inches and weigh up to 55 pounds. Its color depends on its surrounding, but it’s usually gray-brown or light brown.
The word “turbot” comes from the French word tourbout, considered a derivative of the Latin turbo, which means “spinning top.” That’s how the fish got its name.
It is usually found in sandy areas close to the shore.
Horse mackerel
The Atlantic horse mackerels are also known as the European horse mackerel or the common scad. It is usually found in the Atlantic Ocean near Europe and the southeast area of the Indian Ocean.
Horse mackerels live in the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Marmara. They can also be found in South African regions.
The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and they have an extremely compressed body and a big head. They also have two dorsal fins.
Horse mackerels are classified below the safe limit for exploitation. They are caught using commercial trawls and longlines.
They can be prepared by frying, baking, or broiling, and they are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and have a pleasant taste.
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