Xref: utzoo rec.food.cooking:10201 alt.fishing:844 sci.bio:2159
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!boulder!pell
From: pell@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Anthony Pelletier)
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking,alt.fishing,sci.bio
Subject: Re: Funny Fish Names
Message-ID: <10440@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Date: 2 Aug 89 20:26:05 GMT
References: <20906@cup.portal.com> <4742@omepd.UUCP>
Sender: news@boulder.Colorado.EDU
Reply-To: pell@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Anthony Pelletier)
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Lines: 24

>In article <20906@cup.portal.com> mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) writes:
>>What are the aliases being used to sell fish these days?  Fish like hake and
>>shad are being sold under other names, like "butterfish".  Could someone
>>please post a cross-reference list of these aliases.
>
>
Another alias that I have seen for a couple of years here in Colorado is
"Boston Bluefish," which, if I know my fish (and I do) is really pollack.
What amuses me almost as much is that people buy and eat real Bluefish here
in Colorado (probably has other names.  On the East coast this is a 
silver-bellied, very carniverous school fish (with sharp teeth!) often found
preying on other school fish like Bunker and Bass).
Anyone who grew up on the East coast knows that, while this is a fine
fish if eaten right away, Bluefish rapidly becomes one of the nastiest-tasting
fish in the sea if left more than a day.  It does not travel or store well.
The big ones (I've caught them up to 13lbs and have seen bigger) are
especially nasty.  They have a thin layer of awful-tasting dark meat/fat
on the outside right under the skin--very oily and stores all kinds of
terrible things--that spreads its terrible taste to the rest of the
fish as it ages.  Some have told me that if you skin them fresh and
remove this stuff, the fillets taste OK after storage; but I remain
unconvinced.

-tony