The
wahoo is a
scombridScombridae is the family of the mackerels, tunas, and bonitos, and thus includes many of the most important and familiar food fishes. The family consists of about 55 species in 15 genera and two subfamilies...
fishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. It is best known to sports fishermen, as its speed and high-quality flesh make it a prize game fish. In
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, the wahoo is known as
ono. Many Hispanic areas of the Caribbean and Central America refer to this fish as
peto.
Description
The body is elongated and covered with small, scarcely visible scales; the back is an iridescent blue, while the sides are silvery, with a pattern of irregular vertical blue bars and have razor sharp teeth.These colors fade rapidly at death. The mouth is large, and both the upper and lower jaws have a somewhat sharper appearance than those of king or Spanish mackerel. Specimens have been recorded at up to 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) in length, and weighing up to 83 kilograms (183 lb). Growth can be rapid. One specimen tagged at 5 kilograms (11 lb) grew to 15 kg (33.1 lb) in one year. Wahoo can swim up to 80 kph, (Firestein and Walters, 1969). They are one of the fastest fish in the sea.
The wahoo may be distinguished from the related Atlantic
king mackerelThe king mackerel is a migratory species of mackerel of the western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. It is an important species to both the commercial and recreational fishing industries.-Description:...
and from the Indo-Pacific
Narrow-barred Spanish mackerelScomberomorus commerson, is a mackerel of the Scombridae family. It is found in a wide ranging area centering in South-east Asia but as far west as the east coast of Africa and from the Middle East and along the northern coastal areas of the Indian Ocean, and as far east as Fiji in the South West...
by a fold of skin which covers the mandible when its mouth is closed. In contrast, the mandible of the king mackerel is always visible as is also the case for the smaller
Spanish mackerelSpanish mackerel may refer to:* Chloroscombrus chrysurus* Elagatis bipinnulata* Schedophilus maculatus* Scomber japonicus* Scomberomorus brasiliensis* Scomberomorus cavalla* Scomberomorus commerson* Scomberomorus guttatus...
and
Cero mackerelThe Cero mackerel, Scomberomorus regalis, is similar in appearance and coloration to the Atlantic Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus maculatus except that the Cero has a longitudinal stripe in addition to the spots of the Spanish....
. The teeth of the wahoo are similar to those of king mackerel, but shorter and more closely set together.
The
barracudaThe barracuda is a ray-finned fish known for its large size and fearsome appearance. Its body is long, fairly compressed, and covered with small, smooth scales. Some species could reach up to 1.8m in length and 30 cm in width...
is sometimes confused with mackerel and wahoo, but is easy to distinguish from the latter two species. Barracuda have prominent scales, larger, dagger-like teeth, and lack the caudal keels and blade-like tail characteristic of the scombrid (mackerel/tuna/seerfish) family of fish.
The origin of the name "wahoo" is not definitely known. One theory holds that European explorers found the fish in abundance near the
Hawaiian islandThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
of
OahuOahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, the name of which was rendered on maps at the time as "Wahoo."
Biology
Wahoo tend to be solitary or occur in loose-knit groups of two or three fish, but where conditions are suitable can be found in schools as large as 100 or more. Their diet is made up of other fish and squid.
Most wahoo taken have a
trematodeTrematoda is a class within the phylum Platyhelminthes that contains two groups of parasitic flatworms, commonly referred to as "flukes".-Taxonomy and biodiversity:...
parasite
(Hirudinella ventricosa) living in their stomach, which does not appear to harm the fish.
Commercial and sports fisheries
The flesh of the wahoo is white, delicate, and highly regarded by many gourmets; indeed the Hawai'ian name for the fish, Ono, is also the Hawai'ian word for "tasty" or "delicious". This has created some demand for the wahoo as a premium priced commercial
food fishSeafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...
. In many areas of its range, such as
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
,
BermudaBermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
and many parts of the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, local demand for wahoo is met by artisanal commercial fishermen, who take them primarily by trolling, as well as by recreational sports fishermen who sell their catch.
Although local wahoo populations can be affected by heavy commercial and sports fishing pressure, wahoo as a species are less susceptible to industrial commercial fishing than more tightly schooling and abundant species such as tuna. Wahoo are regularly taken as a by-catch in various commercial fisheries, including longline fisheries for tuna, billfish and dolphinfish (a.k.a.
mahi-mahiThe mahi-mahi or common dolphinfish is a surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in off-shore temperate, tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. It is one of only two members of the Coryphaenidae family, the other being the pompano dolphinfish...
or dorado) and in tuna purse seine fisheries — especially in sets made around floating objects, which act as a focal point for a great deal of other marine life besides tuna — but the species as a whole is not considered overfished.
In most parts of its range, the wahoo is a highly prized sport fishing catch. It reaches a good size, is often available not too far from land, and is a very good fighter on light to medium tackle. It is known in sports fishing circles for the speed and strength of its first run. The aggressive habits and razor-sharp teeth of the wahoo can however be of considerable annoyance when targeting larger gamefish, as when tuna or
marlin fishingMarlin fishing is considered by some game fishermen to be the pinnacle of offshore game fishing, due to the size and power of marlin and the relative rareness and vulnerability of this species. In the past, before the way was eased by modern technology, it required skill to capture or kill marlin...
.