[Mullet; Family Mullidae]
Goatfish are a family of tropical and temperate marine fish. Often called "Mullet", they are a very popular eating fish in Western and Mediterranean Europe, but are little known in North America. Confusingly, they are not related to the Mullet Family.
More on Varieties of Fish
(very large page).
[Mullus surmuletus (striped red mullet) | also
Mullus barbatus (red mullet)]
M. surmuletus and M. barbatus are nearly identical, and
both come in various color schemes, not always red. The photo is of
M. surmuletus. These are the "Red Mullet" called for in European
cookbooks, but you're unlikely to find them in North America. Both are \
IUCN Red List LC (Least Concern)
Details and Cooking.
Photo by Hans Hillewaert distributed under license Creative
Commons
Attribution ShareAlike 2.5.
[Mulloidichthys dentatus]
This Eastern Pacific Goatfish is found from Southern California to
Peru, but is rare north of the southern tip of Baja and south of
Panama. The photo specimen is in its night time colors, during the
day it is white with yellow stripes. It is often marketed in its
red form, which can be somewhat blotchy. Note that the barbels
responsible for the name "goatfish" can be tucked in and may not be
visible. These fish can grow to 12 inches but the photo specimen
was 11-1/2 inches long and weighed 1l-1/4 ounces. It was purchased
from a Philippine market in Los Angeles at 2014 US $7.99 per pound,
Labeled "Red Weke / Mexican Goatfish". Red list
status: LC (Least Concern).
Details and Cooking.
[Ca Phen rau (market); Parupeneus insularis |
Double-bar Goatfish Parupeneus crassilabris]
This is found in the Pacific from southern Japan
to northeastern Australia, around almost all the Pacific Islands,
including Hawaii, and a few may be found off the coast of Mexico and
Central America. with most other Goatfish, it is only red at night, which
is its feeding time. These fish can grow to nearly 12 inches, but the
photo specimen was 10-3/4 inches and weighed 9-5/8 ounces.
IUCN Red List LC (Least Concern).
Details and Cooking.
[Yellow Spot Goatfish, Parupeneus indicus]
This tropical Indo/Pacific Goatfish is found from the east coast of Africa to the southwest coast of Mexico and as far south as the northern coast of Australia. It adopts a number of color schemes but is often marketd in its red form as "Red Mullet". All have the round dark spot at the tail and a large yellow spot at the lateral line between the two dorsal fins - but in the red form that spot is only faintly visible.
This is a supurb eating fish, but not common here in Southern
Califronia. They can grow to nearly 18 inches but fish in my test batch
were about 12-1/2 inches long weighing 1 pound. The photo specimen is a bit
smaller because the idiots at the market had broken the tails of all the
larger fish to fit them in a foam tray that was too small - an outrage
that would never happen in the Philippine and Southeast Asian markets here.
Red list status: Not Evaluated.
Details and Cooking.
[Cá Phèn Râu (Viet); Parupeneus
heptacanthus]
This tropical Indo/Pacific Goatfish is found from the east coast of
Africa across the Pacific to the west coast of Mexico and South America.
Some are as far south as the south coast of Australia and the tip of
Africa. It adopts a number of color schemes but is often marketed in its
red form, which can be quite blotchy. Note that the barbels responsible
for the name "goatfish" can be tucked in and may not be visible. These
fish can grow to nearly 14 inches but the photo specimen was 10-3/4
inches long weighing 1l ounces. Red list status: Not Evaluated.
Details and Cooking.