Bomto, a name given to several scombe-roid fishes of the genera thynnus, auxis, and pelamys. The bonito of the tropics, so celebrated for its pursuit of the flying fish, is the thynnus pelamys (Linn.). Its range is extensive in the tropical Atlantic, and it probably extends to the Pacific and Indian oceans. It has the graceful form, habits, and activity of the common tunny, but it is much smaller, rarely attaining a greater length than 2 1/2 ft.; the color of the back and sides is of a brilliant steel blue, with green and pink reflections; the belly is silvery, with eight brown longitudinal bands, four on each side, extending from the throat to the tail. Its food is principally small fish, the higher mollusks, and sometimes marine plants; it is readily taken by the hook, and its flesh, though dry and occasionally injurious, is considered by mariners as a luxury. The T. coretta (Cuv.) is also called bonito in the West Indies. The bonito of the Mediterranean is the auxis vulgaris (Cuv.), resembling the mackerel in the separation of the dorsal fins; the color of the back is blue, with irregular lines and spots of a blackish blue on the sides; the average length is. 15 inches, and the weight rarely exceeds 6 lbs.

The bonito of the New England fishermen is the pelamys sarda (Bloch), called also skipjack; its genus differs from the tunny only in having separate, pointed, and strong teeth; the color of the head and upper parts is a greenish brown, the sides lighter, and the belly silvery white; 10 or 12 dark-colored bands pass obliquely downward and forward from the back toward the sides, sometimes as low as the abdomen; the lateral line is rather undulating; it is rarely more than 2 ft. long. It is found in the Mediterranean, and in the temperate regions of the Atlantic, from the Cape Verd islands to the American coast; it is considered good eating in the Mediterranean. The P. Chiliensis (Cuv.) of the Pacific coast of South America is also called bonito. This term is Spanish, meaning "pretty," and is doubtless applied to many other species of fish.

Bonito (Thynnus pelamys).

Plain Bonito (Auxis vulgaris).