Mis-labeled Fish

Been going on for years. 50 years ago ShopRite in Hackensack used to constantly have small weakfish labeled as "Trout". When I called them out on it, they said, "Well sea trout is trout!"

Was in an Asian market a few months ago. I saw "Grouper" that was clearly Tilefish. I have no pictures of this however.

As Roccus noted this has been going on for decades, at least as long as I can rermember which now spans 60+ years. When I was a kid I had one of those pocket sized Fish Identification books which displayed very accurate color photos of most of the known species of fish worldwide. I would often go to the local market and call them out on their errors.

This also occurs not only in resellers but in restaurants as well. When Paul Prudhome first got everyone excited with his blackened "redfish" dishes it was a "no no" to label it as Red Drum. I think to this day in the few restaurants that serve them, Puffers are called "Chicken of the Sea". What about the fast food chains claiming to be selling "Whitefish" filet sandwiches. What the heck are those? We have all heard the stories about one particular chain that uses skate wings for their fish and chips dinners.

I find it interesting that different cultures around the world, including our own, consider some species of fish as desireable and others as trash. When I was travellling to Japan for business on a regular basis years ago there were some small local restaurants we would visit that served what they called "river fish" God knows what that stuff was!!

BTW, Lep is correct the mislabeled fish on top are indeed Yellowtail Snappers. I caught many during the 2 years I lived in south Florida. Pretty tasty too but not the same size or taste as Red Snapper. Also, I'm not sure of the current commercial regs on Striped Bass but the fish below the snappers looks like a Bass and pretty small to me.

Last year, I read a restaurant review in Newsday about a "hot" new seafood place in the Huntington area ( maybe Northport? Don,t remember the exact location) Anyway, the featured item was "Locally sourced fresh John Dory." I myself have never caught one in 60 plus years of fishing. I do know they are very popular and their range is all up and down the east coast....of Australia.

Last year, I read a restaurant review in Newsday about a "hot" new seafood place in the Huntington area ( maybe Northport? Don,t remember the exact location) Anyway, the featured item was "Locally sourced fresh John Dory." I myself have never caught one in 60 plus years of fishing. I do know they are very popular and their range is all up and down the east coast....of Australia.

I guess they don't believe in the old "Sy Simms mantra of 'An educated consumer is our best customer.'"

Am I the only one that cringes when seeing something like this?

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Clearly, these are Yellowtail Snapper, NOT Red Snapper - normally a considerably more valuable fish. To the average shopper that might want to pick up a nice, delicious fish dinner, maybe not such a tragedy. But come on, I've seen this sort of "error" many times over the past several years. Particularly so recently, as more and more "out of town" fish are showing up in our local markets. Most Long Islanders are very familiar with what a bluefish, bass or whiting is. But these tropical species, not so much.

So what do you think? Misleading representation at the wholesale level? At the retail level? General ignorance on the part of the retailer? I'm interested in any other examples you've seen, as well as your overall opinion of this increasingly common situation.

yes saw this a few months ago at north shore farms..told them it way yellowtail not red..they told me this is what they were told to do...