# Butterfish..... yeah sure.



## keza

The local fish shop in Bermagui has Butterfish for sale, I prompted them to give me the real name of the fish and caused a bit of an upset, they seemed pretty convinced that it was an actual fish and got upset when I used the word 'shark' in front of their customers.
They are small white fillets, with huge lines that make it look like it has come off something the size of a swordfish.

It really bugs me that this is legal, what other food industry allows you to sell food under a false name to make it more attractive.
The saddest thing about this is the fact that I was in a fish shop but if you look at the weather we have had for the last 2 weeks, you will understand.


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## solatree

Butterfish was the common name in SA for Mulloway back in the 60s - these days "butterfish" usually means imported fillets of sone sort.


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## Musty

keza said:


> The local fish shop in Bermagui has Butterfish for sale, I prompted them to give me the real name of the fish and caused a bit of an upset, they seemed pretty convinced that it was an actual fish and got upset when I used the word 'shark' in front of their customers.
> They are small white fillets, with huge lines that make it look like it has come off something the size of a swordfish.
> 
> It really bugs me that this is legal, what other food industry allows you to sell food under a false name to make it more attractive.
> The saddest thing about this is the fact that I was in a fish shop but if you look at the weather we have had for the last 2 weeks, you will understand.


Grab one of their roast chickens (from the fish shop lol) and a small tub of potatoe salad, you wont get change out of a $20, infact you will be dipping back into your pockets for more LOL
Good old country hospitality aye
I refuse to buy fish. Aus tiger Prawns and NZ muscles are as far as my fish shop spending will go.

Musty


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## BIGKEV

keza said:


> what other food industry allows you to sell food under a false name to make it more attractive.


McDonalds


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## Davey G

cant help with your deep fried problem but I used to know a girl called Butterface.

Nice tits, but her face..... :shock:


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## koich

The fish and chip shops do it with basa. They replace the second A with an S.


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## Barrabundy

Pacific Dory is another name which roughly translates to mekong catfish.

I wonder what would happen if you owned a restaurant and served up spaghetti with dogmeat bolognaise but called it something like??? um??? long tailed chital meat?? Would you end up in jail?


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## bildad

You should go back to that shop and apologise,.
There is certainly a fish called Butterfish and has excellent eating qualities, I first encountered them here in Hervey Bay although not that common, but I understand that they can be found right round Australia, I could stand corrected.



The thing is you have created a scene in a shop that may well have been right!


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## john316

nothing wrong with shark anyway, good tucker, though its normally traded under the name "flake" down this way

cheers

john


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## onemorecast

You can always opt for the trusty ole meat pie (not you Kerry). Course the definition of meat these days is pretty broad too


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## sbd

When I was a lad, your (bread and) butterfish were bream, whiting and flathead.

Does this help?


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## solatree

patwah said:


> CB, You sure thats a permit??
> Doesnt look like a true permit.


A true permit would have writing on it and some important person's (like a Mod) signature on it. Do you need a permit to sell butterfish ?


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## grinner

the ones in the pick are "black pomfrey " which are indeed marketed as butterfish.

spread from japan to OZ

sweet to eat apparently










http://apps.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=15825


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## bazzoo

I am gunna hate myself for this , after all it is" but -a -fish ", yep i was right hate myself already


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## 4weightfanatic

They definately aren't permit cjb come on man you fly fish you should know that !! My money is on Pompano closely related to Pomfrey I imagine which I believe are related to the trevally's. As Solatree said Mulloway used to be called Butterfish even in the 70's not just 60's in SA. Here's some Pompano in a Singapore fish market. Pat.


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## dru

I thought butterfish was an imported delicacy that needs to be treated with care. Pretty much guaranteed to result in the runs.


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## kayakone

Grinner and Bilbad are right. Butterfish, or butter bream, central Qld to NSW (but not Oz wide).

It is not likely that the 'Butterfish' in Bermagui are related at all, as butter bream are very small and thin. Deceptive labelling to be sure.

Trevor


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## dru

kayakone said:


> Grinner and Bilbad are right. Butterfish, or butter bream, central Qld to NSW (but not Oz wide).
> 
> It is not likely that the 'Butterfish' in Bermagui are related at all, as butter bream are very small and thin. Deceptive labelling to be sure.
> 
> Trevor


I know what a butter bream is, but was talking about butterfish.


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## kayakone

Grant's Guide to Fishes.. page 447 
Butterfish = Butter-bream


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## dru

I take it back, but that's odd.


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## bildad

cjbfisher said:


> Pigs arse that's a butterfish!!!!
> That's a permit, or snub-nosed dart.




This a butterfish or butterbream they are also called sickle fish, there is also a variety that looks just like the snubbed nose Dart also called pumpkin Head, the difference is they don't have a forked tail like the pic I posted previously.


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## BIGKEV

How are the general public going to know what sort of fish it is if the brains trust of an elite Australia wide Kayak FIshing network cannot agree?


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## punchanello

BIGKEV said:


> How are the general public going to know what sort of fish it is if the brains trust of an elite Australia wide Kayak FIshing network cannot agree?


Incredible isn't it?

I have nothing to add re: fish ID, but it is very difficult for the consumer to know what they are really getting as you say.

Once you've navigated the multitude of local names for species you have to work out if it is actually the species you are talking about it!

Marine biologists reckon that we have catalogued about 10% of the oceans life, so there's a fair chance there isn't a name for some of the stuff you can catch.


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## kayakone

punchanello said:


> BIGKEV said:
> 
> 
> 
> How are the general public going to know what sort of fish it is if the brains trust of an elite Australia wide Kayak FIshing network cannot agree?
> 
> 
> 
> ..... so there's a fair chance there isn't a name for some of the stuff you can catch.
Click to expand...

But there is a name for the fish sellers deliberately misleading the public. In the old school they are called LIARS.

Do we need another Federal Govt department to effectively police such fraudulent claims? Ohhhh, not too sure about that? (Woolworths sell 'saddleback snapper'...now WTF is _that_?)


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## Zed

We get these offshore in the Summer. Pomfret or Butterfish. They're uncommon, but can be caught incidental to tuna fishing.


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## jfish87

googled butterfish, and this wikipedia article came up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escolar

white tuna, eh?


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## punchanello

kayakone said:


> But there is a name for the fish sellers deliberately misleading the public. In the old school they are called LIARS.


Preaching to the choir, brutha

I'm pretty sure there's no need for another department though. Pretty sure the ACCC could investigate if you lodged a complaint and a whole host of other state based authorities.


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## keza

I think fish mongers should have to have a picture of a whole fish for ID if they are only selling fillets.
Selling this stuff in a fishing harbour leads the public to believe it is local. This is for sale at the fish shop on the main street and not the one in the harbour but all their other fish is local or stated where it comes from.
The main thing about this stuff is that it looks like the fillets have come off very large fish and been cut to look like small fillets.

Incidentally, I stripped the kayaks down last night to dry everything for the trip home tomorrow and this morning the wind had stopped for the first time in 2 weeks. Not forcast, beautiful conditions. I figure I'm being punished so i'll just suck it up.

ps. Last week the same fish monger had a yellow fin for sale that was actually an albacore, I explained that it didn't bother me but i thought they may like to know. She did tell me next time I went past that she checked and I was right. Holiday staffing ?


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## punchanello

occy said:


> I've heard that name many times before, and seen it on menus in Chinese restaurants in Melbourne only for some reason. Interestingly I saw some fillets labelled as butterfish at the Sydney Fish market the other day, and they definitely weren't shark. The flesh looked a bit too dense, and very white almost milky to me if that makes sense. Here's some official details from the Commonwealth fisheries folk http://www.fish.gov.au/fishnames/fishnames.php?pid=2903. Take a look at the obsolete names and you will get the general idea of what it has been passed off as before.
> 
> As for punchanello's comment about no need for another department I totally disagree. We need a separate department to uphold standards in the seafood industry. And at the top of the list should be ensuring the integrity of our seafood species and restoring consumer confidence that what they see is what they get. We need a flying squad of experts who could be quickly deployed to markets, fishmongers and fish shops, and restaurants all over this big wide land, to taste test every single species in order that we can restore consumer confidence that what's on the label or the menu is accurate. Given my highly developed skills in the area of food and wine (especially expensive seafood and shellfish) I reckon I'de be perfect for the job. I wasn''t called Sir Lunchalot, the legend in his own lunch hour for nuffink you know. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


Gimme the job. I'll run it for ya


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