Available wild-caught, these free-swimming, marine fish, from the same family as Tunas, live in schools in open waters over the continental shelf off the eastern, southern and south-western coasts of Australia from Cape York (Qld) to Exmouth (WA), with Australian Bonito found in the east, Oriental Bonito in the west, and Leaping Bonito in tropical and sub-tropical waters along both the east and west coasts (venturing into estuaries in winter).
They often school with other Tunas near the coast. Australian Bonito, which makes up the bulk of the commercial catch, is caught using lines and purse seines and sold mostly in Sydney. Oriental Bonito is occasionally trolled off WA and a small quantity of Leaping Bonito is caught of NSW.
They’re generally all marketed simply as Bonito and look very similar, with blue-green torpedo-shaped bodies fading to silver on the belly and dark blue-grey stripes covering both upper and lower body; the stripes on Australian Bonito are almost completely horizontal, while those on Oriental and Leaping Bonitos are more slanted.