Oriental bonito (Sarda orientalis) is a saltwater species recorded in Taiwan. It is found at depths of 1–167 m. The main season in Taiwan runs spring, summer.
Scientific name: Sarda orientalis · Water: Saltwater · Season: Spring, Summer
Size: up to 102 cm
The oriental bonito, 煙仔虎 in Taiwan, is a sleek scombrid with oblique stripes on the back, schooling in coastal waters often alongside small tunas. Its range is the Indo-Pacific, widespread but with many gaps in what is known, and in the eastern Pacific from the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific coast of the United States south past Baja California and the Tres Marias Islands to Cabo Blanco in Peru, especially in El Niño years, along with the Galapagos and the Gulf of Guayaquil. Extremely fast and a voracious predator, it takes trolled lures and baits and makes powerful runs. It ranked 9th in the OCA's 2021 Q2 report and 4th by volume (229 records) in 2019.
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