Wahoo
Acanthocybium solandri
The wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) is a scombrid fish that lives in tropical and subtropical seas worldwide. It is known as ono in Hawaii and is sometimes called hoo in the United States. Prized for its speed and excellent flesh, it is a highly valued game fish among sport anglers.
Family
Scombridae
Avg Size
150-210 cm
Habitat
Wahoo are distributed throughout the tropics, occurring in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Population genomic work using RAD sequencing points to two only weakly distinct stocks, one in the Atlantic and one across the Indo-Pacific, likely with substantial migration and gene flow between them.
Behaviour
Wahoo feed on other fish and squid. A study in the Western and Central Pacific found their stomach contents to be about 84.64% bony fish, 14.26% cephalopods such as cuttlefish and 1.1% crustaceans. Their sex ratio skews toward females, ranging from about 1:0.9 off Puerto Rico to 3.5:1 off North Carolina, a pattern typical of many pelagic species. Most wahoo also carry a trematode parasite, the giant stomach worm (Hirudinella ventricosa), in their stomachs, though it appears to do the fish no harm.
