[Croaker, Jewfish, Shade-fish, Sowa, Kir, Corvina, Salmon-bass, Stone bass;
Argyrosomus regius]
Native to the East Atlantic coasts, Mediterranean, and Black Seas, this fish has also invaded the Red Sea. It is found from Norway south to Congo, but is scarce north of France. It can grow to 90 inches and 227 pounds, but is more commonly 59 inches.
This fish is harvested commercially, but is also caught in recreational
fishing. The main fisheries are Mauritania, Morocco, and Egypt, accounting
for 80% of the catch. European catches are relatively small, in Spain,
Portugal, and France. Aquaculture is still developing along the Mediterranean
coasts of Spain, France, Italy, and Turkey.
IUCN Red List status LC (Least Concern).
Photo by Lucyin distributed under license Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International.
More on Croakers and Drums.
The flesh of this fish is very mild, and should not offend those who are not fish aficionados, but may disappoint those who are. I have found no recipes using Meagre for soups or stews, so I presume it is too tender for wet cooking, similar to some other Drums and Croakers.