Get To Know...Wahoo (Ono)

Wahoo is a cousin of mackerel and is found in warm oceans around the world. In the Atlantic, they’re harvested commercially in hook-and-line fisheries along the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico. Most wahoo in the U.S. market is harvested in the Pacific and landed in Hawaii, where the fish is called “ono,” meaning “good to eat.”

"While wahoo is believed to be abundant and can support a high rate of harvest, managers have adopted a precautionary approach to managing these fisheries. Recognizing the significant importance of wahoo to the recreational fishing community in the Atlantic and Gulf, managers seek to maintain the current harvest levels of wahoo and ensure that no new fisheries develop to preserve the historical and current allocation of the resource between recreational and commercial fishermen."

Photo Credit: Oceanlight.com

Courtosey NOAA

Get to know...Haddock

Haddock is a close relative of cod and the two fish look very similar. This whitefish is distinguished from cod by a dark lateral line running on its side and a distinctive dark patch or “thumbprint” mark above the pectoral fin. Haddock also has a whisker on its chin similar to cod but is much smaller. It is almost impossible to tell the two fish apart. Haddock is fished on both sides of the North Atlantic and unlike cod and polluck, there is no equivalent Pacific species. Although haddock reaches 20 pounds or more, few fish over 5 pounds and 24 inches are caught.

Photo Credit: www.nefsc.noaa.gov

Get to know the Eel...

Eels are carnivores and are known as predators. Most eels remain in the sea, but females of some species migrate to freshwater and returns to the sea to lay their eggs. American and European eels spend most of their adult life in the lakes, rivers, and streams of these two continents. Eels range in color; they can be silver, glass-like (clear) and dark olive green to brown. There are over 700 species of eels and most of these can be as large as 20 pounds. 

Photo Credit: The Living Ocean

Tuna has some interesting relatives…

According to Science Daily, “deep sea fish such as the black swallower, with an extendable stomach that enables it to eat fish larger than itself, and manefishes, some sporting spiky fins like a Mohican haircut, are close cousins to mackerels and tuna”? Most people think that tuna is in a category of its own; but that may not be the case according to an Oxford study.

Dr Matt Friedman of Oxford said, ‘Discovering that such radically different fish species are related is a bit like finding that a seal is more closely related to a cat than it is to a walrus!' Dr. Friedman went on to say, 'What was immediately clear from our result is that the extended family of tunas and mackerels is made up of fishes that all look very different from one another, with different ways of life, but which share one key trait: they all dwell in the open ocean.'

Read the entire story at Science Daily