Cortez Bonefish, Albula gilberti
Cortez Bonefish, Albula gilberti. Fish caught within Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, March 2017. Length: 28 cm (11 inches).
Cortez Bonefish, Albula gilberti. Fish caught from coastal waters off Loreto, Baja California Sur, June 2024. Length: 28 cm (11 inches).
Cortez Bonefish, Albula gilberti. Fish caught from coastal waters off San Diego, California, Baja California Sur, June 2013. Length: 30 cm (12 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).
Cortez Bonefish, Albula gilberti. Fish provided by the commercial bait salesmen of Puerto Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, April 2013. Length: 33 cm (13 inches).
Cortez Bonefish, Albula gilberti. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, November 2020. Length: 33 cm (13 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.
The Cortez Bonefish, Albula gilberti, is a member of the Bonefish or Albulidae Family, and is known in Mexico as macabí de Cortés. Globally, there are six species in the genus Albula, of which four are found in Mexican waters, one in the Atlantic and three in the Pacific Ocean.
The Cortez Bonefish is a relatively small fish with long, slender, silvery, and slightly compressed body. Their anal and pectoral fins are orange in color. They have a conical head with a small, short, inferior mouth that does not reach the eyes, and a pointed overhanging snout. Their anal fin has 8 or 9 rays and a short base and found under the rear of the dorsal fin; their caudal fin is deeply forked; their dorsal fin has 17 to 19 rays and has a short base and is located mid-body; their pectoral fins have 18 to 19 rays and are low on the body; and, their pelvic fins have 10 to 12 rays and are located well behind the pectoral fins. Their fins do not have spines and their anal and dorsal fins do not have an extended filamentous ray (a key to identification). They have 15 to 18 gill rakers. They are covered with smooth mid-sized scales. Their lateral line is straight and runs the entire length of the body.
The Cortez Bonefish is a demersal bottom dwelling schooling fish found in and around sandy substrata; they will sometimes come into very shallow water on sand flats at depths of less than 15 m (50 feet). Historically they are believed to reach a maximum of 36 cm (14.2 inches) in length. In May of 2019 my long time friend Dr. Larry Overman caught a 41.2 cm (16.2 inch) fish (and several others in excess of 36 cm) from within Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, extending this record. As of January 1, 2024, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 0.77 kg (1 lb 11 oz), with the fish caught from San Diego Bay, California in May 2022. They are a pelagic species that travels and feeds in schools. For centuries this species was believed to be the Eastern Pacific Bonefish, Albula esuncula, however, based on DNA analysis and related studies conducted in 2011, the Cortez Bonefish it was deemed to be a different and a new-to-science species. The Cortez Bonefish is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Cortez Bonefish is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution being found along the west coast of Baja and throughout the Sea of Cortez.
The Cortez Bonefish can be easily confused with the Bonefish, Albula vulpes (a resident of the Atlantic Ocean), the Machete, Elops affinis (pelvic fins in front of the dorsal fins), the Milkfish, Chanos chanos (large eyes, short terminal mouth, strong lateral line, short pointed dorsal fin), and the Pacific Shafted Bonefish, Albula pacifica (prolonged filamentous terminal anal and dorsal fin rays). The Cortez Bonefish is also identical in visual appearance to the Eastern Pacific Bonefish, Albula esuncula, requiring a DNA tissue analysis to separate these 2 species. The Eastern Pacific Bonefish is larger, achieving a maximum of 70 cm (27.5 inches) in length and is believed to be a more oceanic species and it is not found along the west coast of Baja or within the Sea of Cortez.
From a conservation perspective the Cortez Bonefish has not been formally evaluated. They are very abundant within Magdalena Bay and not considered to be a valuable food fish due to its small size and the numerous fine bones that are omnipresent in its flesh and therefore are a “catch and release.”