Fish
Wahoo
Acanthocybium solandri · also called ono, kingfish, peto
The wahoo is what you get when the mackerel body plan is stretched out and tuned entirely for speed in open water. It is a long steel-blue streak with a beaked snout and shearing teeth, it lives alone rather than in schools, and off Hawaii it carries a name that just means delicious.
Overview
Acanthocybium solandri is circumtropical, living in the surface waters of warm seas worldwide, usually beyond the shelf edge. It is a member of the mackerel and tuna family, extremely elongated, steel-blue with vertical bars, with a beak-like snout and razor teeth. It is a high-speed pursuit predator of flying fish, squid, and small tunas.
Fast and solitary
Burst speeds of around 75 km/h put the wahoo among the fastest fish in the ocean. Unlike its schooling relatives it is usually solitary, hanging around floating objects and drop-offs. It grows extremely fast, matures in a year or two, and rarely lives past six years.
The table fish
The flesh is white, delicate, and lean, prized fresh and barely cooked. The Hawaiian name ono simply means delicious.
Status
Least Concern and common throughout the world’s warm oceans. Its fast growth and heavy spawning keep the population stable despite fishing pressure.
Wahoo: common questions
Is a wahoo related to the barracuda?
No, although they look alike and behave alike. The resemblance, a long silvery body, a pointed head, and a mouth full of blade-like teeth, is convergence between two unrelated fast predators of open water. The wahoo belongs to the family Scombridae, the mackerels and tunas, and its nearest relatives are the Spanish mackerels. The great barracuda is in the family Sphyraenidae, more closely related to mullets and jacks. A quick way to tell them apart is the tail and the fins, since the wahoo has a stiff, tuna-like crescent tail and a row of small finlets behind the dorsal and anal fins, which the barracuda lacks.
How fast can a wahoo swim?
Fast enough to be regularly listed among the fastest fish in the sea. Reliable figures put its burst speed at roughly 75 kilometres per hour, in the same class as yellowfin tuna and not far behind the marlin and sailfish. Everything about its shape serves speed, from a stiff body that barely flexes, to a narrow tail base with keels, to a high crescent tail that beats like a propeller, to finlets that smooth the water flow along the rear of the body. Anglers trolling for wahoo often pull lures at 12 to 15 knots, faster than for almost any other gamefish, because a wahoo can easily run one down.
What does wahoo taste like, and why is it called ono?
Wahoo has clean, white, mild flesh with a fine flake and very little of the oily richness of tuna or mackerel, closer in character to a firm white fish. It is excellent raw, seared, or grilled briefly, and it dries out quickly if overcooked. In Hawaii it is one of the most sought-after food fish and is sold under its Hawaiian name, ono, which is simply the Hawaiian word for tasty or delicious, a rare case of a fish being named after how good it is to eat.
Why do wahoo often bite lures in half?
A wahoo has a set of tightly packed, triangular, finely serrated teeth and jaws designed to shear rather than grip, and it strikes at very high speed. When it hits a baitfish, or a trolled lure, it frequently slices straight through, taking the back half and leaving the front, or cutting a hooked fish in two before an angler can reel it in. For this reason wahoo fishing usually involves a short length of wire leader, since the fish will bite through monofilament line without slowing down.