Bonito

Bonito, a popular name adopted from the Spanish for the following fish of the Mackerel family (Scombridae): Thynnus pelamys, called also the Stripe-bellied Tunny, a tropical fish, 30 inches to 36 inches in length, of a steel-blue colour, with four dark lines from the pectoral fins to the tail. It occasionally strays to the British coasts. The name is also applied to some other tropical species. Pelamys sarda, the Mediterranean Bonito, about 2 feet long, a valuable food-fish, is closely allied; it has the back and sides marked by dark oblique transverse bands, and is found on both sides of the Atlantic, and in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Auxis rochei, the Plain Bonito, from the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, is of uniform blue colour, and of little value for food.