Also, nosing around the menus, it looks like the most common fish served at places like Frenchy's Saltwater Cafe, Crabby's Dockside, Bait House, etc. are flounder, grouper, mahi mahi, and hogfish snapper, which can be fried, grilled, blacked, or broiled. I know tastes are personal, but what and how do typical Floridians order?
So here’s my list of saltwater Florida fish that you can catch yourself or get at restaurants and to make it easy I’m breaking it up by flavor and texture profiles. Within each category only an expert can tell them apart without without seeing the fish whole and intact, once cooked you’re not going to know the difference between a gag or a hind grouper or a mutton or a red snapper which are closely related and you’re probably not going to tell the difference between completely unrelated fish like a striped bass, black grouper or snook once they’re cooked. I’ll put an x next to fish you PROBABLY won’t get in restaurants and would likely have to catch yourself and a xxx next to those that are completely illegal for commercial harvest but which taste great when caught recreationally.
Mild White Flesh with Firm “Porky” Texture, less like fish and more like a pork sirloin that’s slightly softer
Swordfish
Cobia
Wahoo
Marlin (White and Blue) xxx
Sailfish xxx
Spearfish xxx
Mako Shark x
Blacktip Shark x
Mild White Fish with Big Meaty Flakes like Cod
Grouper (various species including gag, scamp, rock hind, red hind, “regular” red, coney, black, snowy, marbled, strawberry, etc)
Striped Bass
Black Seabass x
Snook xxx
MahiMahi/Dolphin
Tripletail x
Mild White Fish with medium sized flakes like walleye or speckled perch
Snapper (various species including red, gray/mangrove, vermillion/“Beeliner”, mutton, queen, lane, cubera, yellowtail)
grunts (various species including white, key west, blue striped, French etc…) x
porgies (various species including jolthead, knobbed, littlehead, grass) x
Redfish/red drum
black drum x
lionfish
hogfish/hog snapper
spadefish x
yellow jack x
almaco jack x
croaker x
Mild White Fish with finegrain flakes but mostly firm texture
Flounder (Southern, Summer,
Fluke
Skate/stingray x
pompano
permit x
triggerfish (gray and queen)
monkfish
filefish xxx
Mild White Fish with a mushy texture like tilapia
Seatrout/”Trout” (Various Species including Speckled/Spotted/”Gator”, Sand, Silver, White)
Whiting
ladyfish xxx
Oily White Fish which need to be immediately fried or baked in person or else commercially only available smoked
Mullet
Kingfish/King Mackerel x
Spanish Mackerel x
Amberjack
Crevalle Jack x
Red fleshed fish best for sushi, ceviche or other raw prep
Bonito x
Blackfin tuna x
Yellowfin Tuna
Bluefin Tuna
Bigeye Tuna x
Skipjack Tuna x
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