Redfish and the Wonderful World of Drums

Most Americans know Redfish for one thing — the blackened fish dish made famous in the 1980's by Paul Prudhomme in New Orleans, and since replicated in restaurants across the US. But redfish can be a lot more than blackened (just ask the Italians). In fact redfish itself is a whole lot more than one fish.

(Note: throughout this post, when the word “redfish” is capitalized, it refers to a specific species; otherwise, the word refers to undifferentiated fish lumped under a handy common name)

More than likely, humans living along what we call the Gulf of Mexico have been eating Redfish for 14,000 years (or more). While this certainly isn’t the earliest evidence of humans eating seafood — that would be a quarter of a million years earlier — it nonetheless demonstrates that humans and Redfish have a long history indeed. (For a bit of context, humans have probably been eating Redfish longer than humans have been growing crops.) For most of those millenia, people exploited Redfish in a more or less subsistence fashion, and undoubtedly there existed a rich tapestry of techniques for the use and preservation of this very handy fish. 

Much, much later after a great deal of that history was lost to the steamroller of European colonization and the ravages of time, Redfish remained a subsistence fish for the newer inhabitants that spoke Spanish, French, and, later still, English. 

It was not until as recent as living memory that humans along the Gulf Coast started commercially fishing Redfish to any great extent, and by that time, fishing technology had advanced far enough to potentially outpace the ability of the Redfish populations to sustain themselves. By the 1980s, a range of factors — skyrocketing demand, overfishing, natural die-off events, and some sensationalized media coverage — led federal and state authorities to almost completely ban the commercial redfish fishery in the Gulf of Mexico. Mississippi alone kept open a small commercial season, which today remains the only commercial Redfish fishery in US waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

So, within the space of a few generations, Redfish went from a subsistence fish to a gold rush fish to a prohibited fish. By the time of the commercial ban, Redfish was so firmly ensconced within the seafood economy of the Gulf Coast that Sea Grant universities across the region worked furiously to develop a farmed alternative. They were aided in their task by the contemporaneous explosion in aquaculture throughout the rest of the world (and by the fact that  drums in general tend to take to cultivation), and in only a few years, those researchers perfected the cultivation of Redfish. In fact, they perfected it so well that within about a decade of the first Redfish farms starting operations, a few farms farther afield were able to start raising their own redfish. One of those farms, located a few hundred meters offshore of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, was Ferme Marine de Mahebourg.

So, within the space of a few generations, Redfish went from a subsistence fish to a gold rush fish to a prohibited fish.

By the early 2000s, demand for farmed drums in the regions surrounding the Mediterranean and Black Seas had almost surpassed supply, and quality fish was in short supply. Around the same time, Ferme Marine de Mahebourg was established on the eastern shores of Mauritius by some forward-thinking people looking to produce a grade of farmed fish that met the standards of European chefs. They soon found that, more than even other drums, Redfish thrived in the warm, clear Mauritian waters— and chefs in Italy and France did not take long to recognize the superior characteristics of both the fish and the farm. Redfish was as versatile as the more familiar Ombrina/Ombrine (see below), but with more body and character, not to mention versatility and a longer shelf life. Initial demand was centered in France (where the fish is called Ombrine Ocellée (“ocellated ombrine”) and Tambour Rouge, (“red drum”), but over time, Italian chefs have come to represent the single biggest market for Ferme Marine Redfish. Today, more than half of the farm’s annual production goes to Italy (where it is known as Ombrina). 

A raw dish of Redfish or as they call it in Italy, Ombrina. Today, more than half of the Mauritius Redfish farm’s annual production goes to Italy

But what is a Redfish?

Well, there are layers to that question, especially because the name “redfish” is so maddeningly ambiguous. On the northeast coast of the United States, redfish usually refers to a fish in the scorpionfish family — usually Sebastes fasciatus (aka Acadian Redfish, Redfish, Atlantic Redfish, etc.) or Sebastes norvegicus (aka Ocean Perch, Atlantic Redfish, etc). On the US west coast, a closely related species (Sebastes alutus, aka Pacific Ocean Perch, Rock Fish, etc.) also goes by the common name Redfish. Around the world, dozens — or perhaps hundreds — of fish species from several large families are colloquially called redfish. Just about every single one of these species share a common trait: they are all unquestionably, undeniably, red. 

Then there is the redfish which is the subject of this essay — Sciaenops ocellatus — a drum native to inshore salt waters from Massachusetts through Brazil, with populations most highly concentrated along the northern Gulf and southeast Atlantic coasts. The species is famous for the black spots along the caudal peduncle (the spots themselves resemble eyes with grossly dilated pupils, which is where the species name ocellatus comes from). The head is heavy and rounded, the body stout and strong. This Redfish has gold and silver skin, the same color head, and fins that could best be described as amber or yam or ginger. No one with a functional knowledge of color would call this fish red. 

The Delightfully Delicious Drums

Now that we’ve established that the fish under question is in fact a drum, perhaps a word on the drum family is in order. The family Sciaenidae encompasses several hundred tropical to subtropical species globally —  almost every single one of which is eaten by humans. Some species make percussive sounds (hence the name “drum”); other species make a more plaintive rumble, and are thus called croakers. Regardless, all species make noise.

Along the Gulf Coast and southern Atlantic coast, we are fortunate to be awash in species of drum. Along with the Redfish, there is the Black Drum (Pogonias cromis), Croaker (Micropogonias undulatus), Speckled Trout (Cynoscion nebulosus), Sand Trout (Cynoscion arenarius), Silver Trout (Cynoscion  nothus), Spot (Leiostomus xanthurus), the Whitings (in the genus Menticirrhus), the Gaspergou (Aplodinotus grunniens, the world’s only freshwater drum species), and a few others — all of which are excellent table fare. Of these species, the two held in highest regard are Redfish and Speckled Trout, both of which are protected and rarely fished commercially.

Up the mid-Atlantic coast swim a few species, including the Weakfish (Cynoscion regalis), which is indistinguishable from the Speckled Trout aside from the fact that it lacks spots. Along the US west coast there is the much-appreciated Corvina, or White Sea Bass (Atractoscion nobilis), for which there is a long-standing commercial fishery. A bit further south in the Sea of Cortez we find the Totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi), the largest drum in the world and an internationally protected species (having been in the past nearly hunted to extinction because of the quality of its swim bladder, which has traditionally been highly prized in Chinese cookery). 

The family Sciaenidae encompasses several hundred tropical to subtropical species globally —  almost every single one of which is eaten by humans. Some species make percussive sounds (hence the name “drum”); other species make a more plaintive rumble, and are thus called croakers. Regardless, all species make noise.

Farther afield, species of drum support wild fisheries around every other continent except Antarctica. Some species are of lesser commercial importance, whereas others are almost linchpins of local seafood economies. The Large Yellow Croaker (Larimichthys polyactis), native to the Yellow Sea and the East and South China Seas, is by far the most commercially important drum on the planet. According to the FAO, almost 600 million pounds of Large Yellow Croaker were harvested in 2016. China accounts for around 99% of production, and while a significant amount of the fish is exported, the overwhelming majority stays in the local economy. The Yellow Croaker (L. crocea) fishery is by comparison small, but still larger than most drum fisheries elsewhere.

From Australia to Japan, across inshore waters of the Indian Ocean, around the southern tip of Africa and north to one finds Argyrosomus japonicus. In English-speaking markets, it is generally called either Mulloway (Australia), Dusky Kob (South Africa), or the Japanese name Suzuki. Of course, in Japan itself, it is called Nibe (Suzuki is the name of another fish altogether (Lateolabrax japonicus), that is more closely related to Branzino and Striped Bass than drum). 

On the other side of the Afroeurasian landmass, The Canary Drum (Umbrina canariensis) ranges from the western Mediterranean, the entire west and east coasts of Africa, and through coastal Indian Ocean waters through at least the Arabian Peninsula, and it is a highly commercial species throughout most of that territory. One finds a closely related cousin, the Shi Drum (Umbrina cirrosa, known in Italian as Ombrina and in French as Ombrine) in seafood markets from the eastern Mediterranean through the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. In the Black Sea, western and central Mediterranean, and eastern Atlantic from Norway to Congo swims the Meagre (Argyrosomus regius). 

Regardless of species or locations, pretty much all drums share a few common traits. Most drums have heavy skeletons, big heads, lots of offal, and thick scales — all of which is offset by the relatively thick fillets. And the meat itself is always white, sometimes fatty (especially in farmed fish), with predictable large flake. All but the largest specimens are excellent raw, and all drums may be prepared in myriad ways.

While drums in general are fecund creatures and capable of withstanding some commercial fishing pressure, there is of course a limit to wild fisheries, especially when drums are so universally loved. So today, of that 600 million pounds of Large Yellow Croaker produced in China, more than half is farmed; Meagre is still available in markets throughout its native range thanks to farms that dot the coastlines of Greece and Turkey; the Totoaba (and its delectable maw) is now harvested from pens rather than the wild. And in restaurant kitchens from Italy and France to Texas and Louisiana, Redfish still has a home — thanks, as we have seen, entirely to farming.

Editor’s Note: If you want to know even more about the fish of the Gulf, PJ and his co-author Benchalak Srimart Stoops literally wrote the book, out soon as Texas Seafood.