Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Bone­fish are found in warm trop­i­cal wa­ters from the south­ern coast of Florida, through the Ba­hamas and along the east­ern coast of South Amer­ica. Bone­fish can also be found in the Pa­cific ocean from coastal Cal­i­for­nia to Peru in South Amer­ica. This range is roughly from 35 de­grees north to 15 de­grees south of the equa­tor. Al­though bone­fish are typ­i­cally found in warmer cli­mates, there have been re­ports of sight­ings into north­ern por­tions of the At­lantic coast in the United States. (Colton and Ale­vi­zon, 1983; Crab­tree, et al., 1996; Kramer and Chap­man, 1999)

• Biogeographic Regions
• oceanic islands
  • native
• atlantic ocean
  • native
• pacific ocean
  • native

Habi­tat

Bone­fish are found in vary­ing water depths. They can be found in wa­ters as deep as 100 m but, while feed­ing, can be found in ex­tremely shal­low wa­ters. Dur­ing feed­ing times, bone­fish can be found in wa­ters as shal­low as 10 cm. When not feed­ing, bone­fish re­treat to deeper wa­ters. (Colton and Ale­vi­zon, 1983; Crab­tree, et al., 1996; Kramer and Chap­man, 1999)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• saltwater or marine

• Aquatic Biomes
• coastal

• Range depth

  0.01 to 100 m

  0.03 to 328.08 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Bone­fish have slen­der bod­ies with sil­ver scales. They have nu­mer­ous black stripes that run the length of the body. Adults vary in length, grow­ing as large as 90 to 100 cm in size. There is sex­ual di­mor­phism, with fe­males being larger than males. Males are from 40 to 50 cm, fe­males are typ­i­cally 2 to 5 cm larger than males. Larger fish can weigh as much as 7 to 9 kg, with most bone­fish falling be­tween 2 and 4 kg. (Bruger, 1974; Crab­tree, et al., 1996)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger

• Range mass

  9 (high) kg

  19.82 (high) lb

• Average mass

  2-4 kg

  lb

• Range length

  100 (high) cm

  39.37 (high) in

• Average length

  40-50 cm

  in

De­vel­op­ment

Fer­til­ized eggs hatch into lar­vae, which goes through three de­vel­op­men­tal stages, in the first stage the lar­vae do not grow, fol­lowed by two stages in which the lar­vae grow larger. Dur­ing the de­vel­op­ment stages, lar­vae are clear in color and very thin. After de­vel­op­ment is com­plete, ju­ve­niles grad­u­ally grow larger until they reach adult size. (Vasquez-Yeo­mans, et al., 2009; Morey, 2010; Vasquez-Yeo­mans, et al., 2009)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis

Re­pro­duc­tion

Re­pro­duc­tion oc­curs sea­son­ally in bone­fish, spawn­ing mainly oc­curs from No­vem­ber to late May or early June. Bone­fish are polyg­y­nan­drous. They ran­domly mate, with eggs and sperm re­leased into open water among other males and fe­males. (Bruger, 1974; Crab­tree, et al., 1997)

• Mating System
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

In bone­fish spawn­ing oc­curs through­out the year. Dur­ing spawn­ing, fe­males re­lease their eggs, which are then fer­til­ized ex­ter­nally by males in the im­me­di­ate area as the eggs are re­leased. Spawn­ing oc­curs in deep water con­tain­ing a cur­rent to move the fer­til­ized eggs. Spawn­ing typ­i­cally is ac­com­plished in schools, re­sult­ing in ran­dom or group fer­til­iza­tion. Males and fe­males do not have a dis­tinct part­ner dur­ing spawn­ing. (Bruger, 1974; Crab­tree, et al., 1997; Morey, 2010)

• Key Reproductive Features
• seasonal breeding
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • external
• broadcast (group) spawning
• oviparous
• sperm-storing

• Breeding interval

  Breeding occurs once yearly.

• Breeding season

  Breeding occurs from November to June.

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  4 to 7 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  3 to 5 years

Dur­ing spawn­ing sea­son, fe­males re­lease eggs into the water col­umn and males re­lease sperm. After spawn­ing, there is no parental care. Eggs de­velop in the water col­umn. (Bruger, 1974; Crab­tree, et al., 1997)

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Bone­fish have an av­er­age life span of 5 to 10 years, but there are some records of this species liv­ing over 20 years. (Bruger, 1974; Crab­tree, et al., 1996)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  5 to 10 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  20 years

Be­hav­ior

Bone­fish are a so­cial species, often found in shal­low water in small schools of just a few fish, but have been found in much larger schools of over 75 in­di­vid­u­als. (Colton and Ale­vi­zon, 1983)

• Key Behaviors
• natatorial
• diurnal
• motile
• social

Home Range

Bone­fish do not have a de­fined home range.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Bone­fish are a school­ing species, they main­tain large groups of in­di­vid­u­als. Bone­fish have good eye sight and a very good sense of smell, this is how they in­ter­act in the en­vi­ron­ment. (Morey, 2010)

• Communication Channels
• visual

• Perception Channels
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

Bone­fish are preda­tors and con­sume a va­ri­ety of prey. They feed on many small mol­lusks and crus­taceans in shal­low water. The ma­jor­ity of their diet con­sists of small crabs, fish, and shrimp, in­clud­ing xan­thid and por­tu­nid crabs, toad­fish, and snap­ping and pe­naeid shrimp (Crab­tree et al., 1998). Bone­fish nor­mally school, but break into smaller groups to feed. (Bruger, 1974; Crab­tree, et al., 1998)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • piscivore
  • eats non-insect arthropods

• Animal Foods
• fish
• aquatic crustaceans

Pre­da­tion

As large fish, bone­fish have few preda­tors as adults. As lar­vae and young, how­ever, bone­fish are prob­a­bly preyed on by a wide va­ri­ety of other fish and aquatic preda­tors. Preda­tors of adult bone­fish are mainly bar­racuda (Sphyraena bar­racuda) and var­i­ous sharks (nurse sharks, Ging­ly­mostoma cir­ra­tum, black­tip sharks, Car­charhi­nus lim­batus, tiger sharks, Ga­le­o­cerdo cu­vier, bon­net­head sharks, Sphyrna tiburo and lemon sharks, Ne­gaprion bre­vi­rostris). Hu­mans (Homo sapi­ens) are an­other source of pre­da­tion. In Florida wa­ters, bone­fish are pro­tected and only one fish per day is al­lowed per an­gler. (Cooke and Philipp, 2004)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda)
  • nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum)
  • blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus)
  • tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier)
  • bonnethead sharks (Sphyrna tiburo)
  • lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris)
  • humans (Homo sapiens)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Bone­fish play an im­por­tant role the food chain in their ecosys­tem. As preda­tors, they play a role in keep­ing smaller fish and crus­tacean pop­u­la­tions in check. As prey, A. vulpes pro­vides a food source for their preda­tors, in­clud­ing sharks and bar­racu­das. Bone­fish are also used as hosts by Spini­tec­tus beaveri, a ne­ma­toda par­a­site. (Bruger, 1974; Snod­grass, et al., 2008)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Bone­fish are a widely prized sport fish among an­glers. Bone­fish can­not be com­mer­cially sold, so there is no im­pact from di­rect sales of the fish. How­ever, pur­chases by an­glers have eco­nomic im­pacts in Florida and the Ba­hamas. (Morey, 2010)

• Positive Impacts
• ecotourism

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Hu­mans can be af­flicted with ciguat­era poi­son­ing through eat­ing bone­fish if the fish them­selves are af­fected. ("Fish­eries and Fish­ery De­vel­op­ment of the Gilbert Is­lands Colony In­clud­ing Fan­ning and Christ­mas Is­lands", 1979; Morey, 2010)

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • poisonous

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Bone­fish are not a listed species. Al­though they are not pro­tected, fish­ing for bone­fish is reg­u­lated.

• IUCN Red List

  No special status

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Stephen Reeves (au­thor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Karen Pow­ers (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

South­west Fish­eries Cen­ter. Fish­eries and Fish­ery De­vel­op­ment of the Gilbert Is­lands Colony In­clud­ing Fan­ning and Christ­mas Is­lands. H-79-2. Hon­olulu HI: Na­tional Ma­rine Fish­eries Ser­vice. 1979.

Bruger, G. 1974. Age, growth, food habits and re­pro­duc­tion of bone­fish, Al­bula vulpes in south florida wa­ters. Florida Ma­rine Re­search Pub­li­ca­tion, 3: 1-20.

Colton, D., W. Ale­vi­zon. 1983. Move­ment pat­terns of bone­fish, Al­bula vulpes , in Ba­hamian wa­ters. Fish­ery Bul­letin, 81/1: 148-154.

Cooke, S., D. Philipp. 2004. Be­hav­ior and mor­tal­ity of caught-and-re­leased bone­fish (Al­bula spp.) in Ba­hamian wa­ters with im­pli­ca­tions for a sus­tain­able recre­ational fish­ery. Bi­o­log­i­cal Con­ser­va­tion, 118: 599-607.

Crab­tree, R., C. Han­den, D. Snod­grass, C. Stevens. 1996. Age, growth, and mor­tal­ity of bone­fish, Al­bula vlpes, from the wa­ters of the Florida Keys. Fish­ery Bul­letin, 94(3): 442-451.

Crab­tree, R., D. Snod­grass, C. Harn­den. 1997. Mat­u­ra­tion and re­pro­duc­tive sea­son­al­ity in bone­fish, Al­bula vulpes, from the wa­ters of the florida keys.. Fish­ery Bul­letin, 95(3): 456-465.

Crab­tree, R., C. Stevens, D. Snod­grass, F. Sten­gard. 1998. Feed­ing habits of bone­fish, Al­bula vulpes from wa­ters of the florida keys. Fish­ery bul­letin, 96(4): 754-766.

Kramer, D., M. Chap­man. 1999. Im­pli­ca­tions of fish home range size and re­lo­ca­tion for ma­rine re­serve func­tion. En­vi­ron­men­tal Bi­ol­ogy of Fishes, 55: 65-79.

Morey, S. 2010. "Ichthy­ol­ogy" (On-line). Ac­cessed April 22, 2010 at http://​www.​flmnh.​ufl.​edu/​fish/​Gallery/​Descript/​Bonefish/​Bonefish.​html.

Over­street, R. 1970. Spini­tec­tus beaveri sp. n. (Ne­ma­toda: Spiruroidea) from the Bone­fish, Al­bula vulpes (Lin­naeus), in Florida. The Jour­nal of Parisi­tol­ogy, 56/1: 128-130.

Pfeiler, E. 1996. Al­lozyme Dif­fer­ences in Caribbean and Gulf of Cal­i­for­nia Pop­u­la­tions of Bone­fishes (Al­bula). Copeia, 1: 181-183.

Pfeiler, E., D. Padron, R. Crab­tree. 2000. Growth rate, age and size of bone­fish from the Gulf of Cal­i­for­nia. Jour­nal of Fish Bi­ol­ogy, 56(2): 448-453.

Snod­grass, D., R. Crab­tree, J. Ser­afy. 2008. Abun­dance, Growth, and Diet of Young-of-the-Year Bone­fish (Al­bula spp.) off the Florida Keys, U.S.A.. Bul­letin of Ma­rine Sci­ence, 82(2): 185-193.

Vasquez-Yeo­mans, L., E. Sosa-Cordero, M. Lara, A. Adams, J. Cohuo. 2009. Pat­terns of dis­tri­b­u­tion and abun­dance of bone­fish lar­vae Al­bula spp. (Al­bu­l­i­dae) in the west­ern Caribbean and ad­ja­cent areas. Ichthyol Res, 56: 266-275.