help me identify this fish

So my husband was at the local fish store today and they had some lovely red snapper but it was expensive so the fish monger recommended something else. Problem is that the fish monger has a very strong accent and hubby couldn’t really understand what he was saying. The fish is called Red _______ something that sounds like marla.

So, we’ve got these lovely filets. They’re quite small as fillets go and we’re going to make fish tacos. But we would love to be able to correctly identify what we’re eating.

Any ideas?

red marlin doesn’t yield any meaningful results.

BTW, if it matters, we’re in NY on Long Island and the fillets are very red, looks a lot like red snapper.

Malabar Snapper?

It is from Australia though

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/types-of-fishes.html Check the reds.

Malabar Snapper looks like it. Sounds a little like it. Maybe that’s what the guy meant if he said Red Malabar maybe he really meant malabar snapper.

Of course we could always go back there and ask. :stuck_out_tongue:

Ocean Perch is reddish, small and fairly inexpensive, but I’ve never heard it called anything but perch.

I don’t claim to be an expert… I just know it was recommended as as a substitute before. Red Snapper is from US waters and has serious restrictions on fishing which drives the price way up. It is also more likely to be found fresh. Malabar comes from Indonesia (sorry, I said Australia earlier) and it isn’t clear but it may be farmed. If it was frozen or previously frozen this is a likely match. If fresh… probably not.

Plus, throw in a B and scramble them up and the name you gave matches exactly.

Could it be this one:

Red Drum (red rummmmm…red rummmm…)

Thanks all for your suggestions. We have since discovered that it was Red Mullet.

Damn tasty too!

Really… doesn’t look very tasty

http://www.ratemymullet.com/show.php?id=18