''Albula'' is an ancient genus of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing 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. Approximately 95% ...

belonging to the family Albulidae. Members of this genus inhabit warm coastal waters worldwide. This genus contains many of the species popularly referred to as bonefish, which are vital components of both subsistence fisheries and

sport fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishin ...

industries worldwide; this, in conjunction with destruction of breeding habitat, has led to population declines in many species.

Taxonomy

Bonefish were once believed to be a single species with a global distribution; however, 11 distinct species have since been identified. There are three identified species in the Atlantic and eight in the Pacific. All species are morphologically indistinguishable from one another and can only be reliably distinguished with genetic evidence, but all of them diverged from one another between 4 to 20 million years ago. The oldest

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s belonging to this genus are from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

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and

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Extant species

The 11 currently recognized living species in this genus are: * ''

Albula argentea ''Albula argentea'', the silver sharpjaw bonefish, is a species of marine fish found in the tropical western Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocea ...

'' ( Forster 1801) (silver sharpjaw bonefish) * ''

Albula esuncula ''Albula esuncula'', the eastern Pacific bonefish, is a species of marine fish found in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, from the coast of Mazatlán, Mexico south to southern Peru, and west to the Galápagos Islands. Taxonomy Bonefish were ...

'' ( Garman 1899) (Eastern Pacific bonefish) * ''

Albula gilberti Albula may refer to: Places *Albula, an old (possibly legendary) name of the Tiber river Switzerland *Albula Range, a mountain range *Albula (river), a tributary of the Hinterrhein * Albula District, a district in canton Graubünden until 2017 * ...

'' Pfeiler, van der Heiden, Ruboyianes &

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, 2011 (Cortez bonefish) * ''

Albula glossodonta ''Albula glossodonta'' (roundjaw bonefish, shortjaw bonefish, Indo-Pacific bonefish, sharpjaw bonefish, or smallmouth bonefish) is a type of marine fish found in the Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth' ...

'' ( Forsskål, 1775) (Roundjaw/shortjaw bonefish) * ''

Albula goreensis Albula may refer to: Places *Albula, an old (possibly legendary) name of the Tiber river Switzerland *Albula Range, a mountain range *Albula (river), a tributary of the Hinterrhein * Albula District, a district in canton Graubünden until 2017 * ...

'' Valenciennes, 1847 (West African bonefish) * '' Albula koreana'' Kwun &

Kim Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese ...

, 2011 (Korean bonefish) * '' Albula nemoptera'' ( Fowler, 1911) (Threadfin bonefish) * ''

Albula oligolepis ''Albula oligolepis'' is a species of marine fish found in the Indo-West Pacific. It is known commonly as the smallscale bonefish. They grow up to . Taxonomy Bonefish were once believed to be a single species with a global distribution, however ...

'' Hidaka, Iwatsuki &

Randall Randall may refer to the following: Places United States *Randall, California, former name of White Hall, California, an unincorporated community * Randall, Indiana, a former town *Randall, Iowa, a city *Randall, Kansas, a city *Randall, Minnesot ...

, 2008 (Smallscale bonefish) * '' Albula pacifica'' (Beebe, 1942) Pfeiler, E., 2008. Resurrection of the name Albula pacifica (Beebe, 1942) for the shafted bonefish (Albuliformes: Albulidae) from the eastern Pacific. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56(2):839-844. (Pacific shafted bonefish) * ''

Albula virgata ''Albula virgata'' is a species of marine fish found in the Hawaiian Islands. It is known commonly as the longjaw bonefish. They grow up to . Taxonomy Bonefish were once believed to be a single species with a global distribution, however 9 diffe ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

, 1922 (Longjaw bonefish) * '' Albula vulpes'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, t ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoological ...

) (bonefish)

Fossil species

*†'' Albula bartonensis'' Schedl 1933 * †'' Albula bashiana'' (Frizzell 1965) 'Metalbula bashiana'' Frizzell 1965* †'' Albula campaniana'' Nolf & Stringer 1996 * †'' Albula dunklei'' Applegate 1970 * †'' Albula eppsi'' White & Frost 1931 * †'' Albula oweni'' (Agassiz 1844) 'Pisodus owenii'' Agassiz 1844; ''Pisodus owenii'' Agassiz 1844

References

Albuliformes Mooreville Chalk Ray-finned fish genera Extant Cenomanian first appearances {{albuliformes-stub