This species is sometimes listed as Pomatomas saltator.

Pomatomus saltatrix is a very widespread species in the Mediterranean that is locally common and abundant, and fisheries statistics indicate widely fluctuating catches. Therefore, it is listed as Least Concern. However, the age structure of this fish has changed to a much smaller average size. Also, its abundance in the eastern Mediterranean is linked to migrations into and out of the Black Sea, and the environment of the Black Sea is threatened with generalized eutrophication (rising dead zone). Therefore, this species may be highly susceptible to poor management of the fishery. Although it is presently assessed as Least Concern, this species should have a very strong fishery management plan and may be highly dependent on conservation efforts.

Pomatomus saltatrix occurs in all oceans except the eastern Pacific (Fricke 1999).

In the western Atlantic, it has been recorded from Canada and Bermuda to Argentina (Robins and Ray 1986). In the Indian Ocean, it occurs along the coast of East Africa, Madagascar, southern Oman, southwest India, the Malay Peninsula, and Western Australia (Randall 1995). In the southwest Pacific, it occurs around Australia except the Northern Territory, and New Zealand (Randall 1995). It is absent from eastern Pacific and northwest Pacific. The species barely enters the western central Pacific region. Records from the Northern Territory (Australia) and from Indonesia appear to be erroneous (Collette 1999). Records from Taiwan (Shen 1993) and Hawaii (Hureau 1991) need verification. In the eastern Atlantic, it occurs from Portugal to South Africa, including the Mediterranean and Black Sea, Madeira, and the Canary Islands.

In the Mediterranean, this species has been recorded along the Catalan coast (Sabates and Martin 1993). It is also present in the Gulf of Genoa, the Ligurian Sea (where both adults (Molinari and Tunesi 2003) and juveniles (Tunesi et al. 2005) have been recorded), and in the northern Adriatic Sea (Dulcic and Glamuzina 2006). P. saltatrix also occurs in the eastern Mediterranean, such as the Sea of Marmara and Aegean Sea (Karakulak et al. 2006, Turan et al. 2006).

The bluefish P. saltatrix, is quite abundant in the Gulf of Gabes, off the south eastern coast of Tunisia, where the species is named “Karradh”. It is commercially exploited by artisanal gears, trawlers, and purse seines. Catches of bluefish, in the period 1996 to 2004 fluctuated between 366 and 1,240t with an annual average of 805t (70% of the national production) (Nejmeddine pers. comm.).

Food and Agriculture Organization statistics for the Mediterranean show that the bulk of the catch comes from Turkey, and landings fluctuate between around 4,000 to 20,000mt from 1995 to 2006 with a recent increase over the previous three years. However, over this same period the average size of this fish decreased so that fish older than three years are uncommon, this size reduction has taken place over the past 30 years and has stabilized at a smaller size in recent years (Bizsel pers. comm. 2007).

This species is common and abundant around parts of Turkey (B. Yokes pers. comm. 2007) but in Algeria it is not very common (M. H. Kara pers. comm. 2007) and apparently it is increasing in abundance in France in recent years (J.P. Quignard pers. comm. 2007).

Turan et al. (2006) collected 210 specimens by commercial fishing vessels from five fishing areas, comprising the Black, Marmara, Aegean and northeastern Mediterranean Seas at two consequent years (2003 to 2004), with mean standard length varying from 15.5 cm to 23.6 cm.

FAO (2004) report 1,000 t caught in 2003 in the Gulf of Gabes (55% by purse seine, 40% by gill nets, 5% by bottom trawls).

Karakulak et al. (2006) collected one specimen, with length 24.3 cm TL, from a survey conducted for selectivity by gill and trammel nets in the coastal waters of Turkey from March 2004 to February 2005.

Dulcic and Glamuzina (2006) collected 59 specimens (39.2 to 58.5 cm TL) using various fishing gears (beach seine, fyke net, gill nets, fish traps) in three estuarine area of the River Mirna, northern Adriatic Sea).

This is a pelagic, oceanodromous species that occurs in oceanic and coastal waters (Claro 1994). They are most common along surf beaches and rock headlands in clean, high energy waters, although adults can also be found in estuaries and in brackish water (Grant 1982). Small fish may be found in shallow coastal waters at least 2 m depth (May and Maxwell 1986), in schools pursuing and attacking small fishes (Cervigón 1993).

Individuals reach maturity at two years old, around 18 cm SL (23.5 TL). In the Mediterranean, spawning is limited to the warmest months, from July to September (Sabates and Martin 1993), while juveniles occur in shallow waters (< 10 m) between November and January (Tunesi et al. 2005). In late spring (May to June) they enter the Turkish Straits moving towards the Black Sea and return back toward the Mediterranean in the early Autumn (Bizsel pers. comm. 2007). This appears to be a spawning migration since females are reproductively active in June and young-of-the-year appear in May (Bizsel and Yokes pers. comm. 2007). During migration they form schools but they are solitary during the summer.

This species migrates to warmer water during winter and to cooler water in summer (Frimodt 1995). Fecundity varies from 400,000 to 2,000,000 eggs depending on the size of the individual (ranging from 370,000 in a 31cm fish to 1,240,000 in a 54 cm fish). They are serial spawners (Kailola et al. 1993).

P. saltatrix is associated with sharks and billfishes (Claro 1994) and is a voracious and aggressive species (Cervigón 1993), reported to bite when handled. Adults form loose groups, often attacking shoals of mullets or other fishes and destroying numbers apparently far in excess of feeding requirements (Collette 1999). It feeds on other fish (Maigret and Ly 1986), crustaceans and cephalopods (Figueiredo et al. 2002).

This is a species with high commercial importance and is often taken as bycatch in the swordfish fishery. Landing data from Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia are from 10,000 to 50,000 tonnes. It is mainly caught through seines, but also by hand lines, trammel nets, and gill nets. This species is popular in game fish (Smith and Smith 1986).

35% of the landed individuals (in number) are juvenile (Bradai pers. comm. 2007).

The species is very vulnerable to fishing during migrations into and out of the Black Sea and if overfished on migratory season this causes steep declines in subsequent years (C. Bizsel and B. Yokes pers. comm. 2007). The average size of this fish has decreased dramatically over the last few years and these smaller sizes are still readily consumed. The generalized euthrophication of the Black Sea (rising dead zone) may cause a serious threat to summer populations of this species.

This is a species with high commercial importance.
This species is popular in game fish (Smith and Smith 1986). It is a good food fish and is marketed mostly fresh (Collette 1999), but also dried or salted (Sousa and Dias 1981), and frozen (Frimodt 1995).

Conservation measures for this species in the Mediterranean should include the creation of a fishery season (May to August), restriction of minimal legal size of capture (22 cm SL), fixation of a minimal mesh size and a minimal depth for every type of gear (Tunisia) (Bradai pers. comm. 2007). A fishery management plan that includes time limitation and quotas during migratory periods should be created.