Creature Feature: Mahi-mahi

They're much prettier alive (but harder to eat)

Beautiful and tasty, too! What more could you ask from a fish? Oh, and also very abundant and fast-growing, which makes for a pretty sustainable fishery at current fishing rates.We really look out for mahi when there’re flying fish and lots of floating sargassum, and have had our best mahi luck with green/white lures with a reflective head. Also known as dorado or dolphinfish (Note the word “fish” in there. When you see dolphin on a menu, it’s this fish species, not Flipper), these deep-water fish take only four to five months to reach maturity, and live about five years.  They can get up to nearly seven feet in length and ninety pounds. This one that Chris caught en route to Trinidad isn’t quite that large, but large enough to have fed (so far) the two of us very well for four meals, six of us with leftovers when we had friends over for a fish feast, and there’s still a large bag (at least two meals’ worth) in the freezer. I read online that the flesh is considered rather soft and oily, like a sardine’s, and all I could think was that this person didn’t have it prepared well. Mahi has nice, white flesh with a light flavor. Our favorite ways to cook it are to either marinate it in Italian dressing, then broil or grill it only until done, or else to sauté some onions and garlic (and peppers if you have them), add a can of diced tomatoes (seasoned are good) and heat, add chunks of the fish and cook a few minutes until the fish is tender, then let it sit for a little while (heat off) for the flavors to meld. Delicious!