Orange-spotted Grouper 青斑

Some one caught a baby 青斑 at Hung Hom off Laguna Verde the other day. Wild 青斑 is very good, and quite expensive, although not as expensive as 東星斑.

It was both fortunate and unfortunate that some people figured out how to farm them about 10 years ago. Fortunate because there is now a much bigger supply of them, and a lesser possibility of them being fished out of existence. Unfortunate because most of them available in the market are farm-raised, and they are really not very good. The flesh is much tougher and much less tasty.

The baby looks very different from the adults. But the 5 irregular vertical bars and little orange spots are clearly visible.

The Malabar Grouper 花鬼斑 resembles 青斑 but is slightly different. It has the 5 vertical bars and dark spots. But it also has some white blotches. Again the wild ones are very good.