Snapper, Grouper, Orange Roughy, Mahi Mahi

This varied group of fish offers juicy, firm flesh with excellent flavor. Size varies enormously, many species being small enough to cook whole, while larger fish are sold in fillets and steaks.

Snapper is plump and bright-eyed with big fins and colorful skin; the combined effects of these make an alluring picture on the market slab. It has a large head and prominent bones, so the yield of flesh from a whole fish is low. Red snapper and its look-alike silk snapper are generally acknowledged as the best for eating, with firm savory white flesh. Other good snappers include the gray or mangrove snapper, yellowtail, muttonfish and the little red lane snapper. These species swim in subtropical Atlantic waters and the Gulf of Mexico, but there are also Hawaiian and South Pacific snappers. Sizes range from 2-10 lb/1-4.5 kg, with an average snapper weighing about 5 lb/2.3 kg. The name snapper can be given to other little fish that shut their mouths with an energetic snap—bluefish is an example. Red snapper is so sought-after that other fish with red skin are commonly passed off as snapper, including the reddish Atlantic ocean perch—sometimes called “redfish”—as well as various Pacific rockfish, which are sold as skinned fillets. Always buy red snapper with its skin still on to be certain that it is the real thing.