Is Mahi-Mahi Fish Actually Dolphin Meat?

If you eat a lot of seafood or live in an area where it is commonly consumed, it's likely that you've seen "dolphin" listed on a menu at a restaurant. Often, it is clarified that this does not refer to a bottlenose or dusky dolphin, but to mahi-mahi, one of the most commonly consumed seafoods in the United States. As a result of this label-- actually a misnomer-- many environmental activists have pleaded seafood-eaters to boycott mahi-mahi because "it's actually a dolphin".

Some people who cook mahi-mahi routinely and have seen pictures of the fish are themselves under the belief that the fish they are cooking is a form of dolphin. Some justify their meat-choice by declaring that mahi-mahi is primitive form of dolphin without the behaviors and intelligence of more commonly-known species. This is, in fact, fully incorrect. Mahi-mahi is not species of dolphin or even a relative of dolphins-- it is a water-breathing, ray-finned fish distantly releated to the perch.

The belief that mahi-mahi fish are actually dolphins has become extremely widespread, and many well-meaning acitivists have urged cooks and fellow activists to organize a global rejection of the meat. Because of the common perception that actual dolphins are cuter or more intelligent than fish species, many seafood-lovers have been horrified by a false realization that the fish they are consuming is a cetacean.

The reason for this common misconception is that restaurants often call the mahi-mahi fish "dolphin" on their menus. This alludes to its formerly quite-common name, dolphin fish, which has been dropped by some restaurants and seafood manufacturers in recent years owing to the confusion caused by the misnomer. In scientific terms, the word dolphin refers exclusively to mammals of the delphinidae family, and not to any fish.

While dolphin-lovers can breathe easy and continue to eat their mahi-mahi without the fear of biting into a mammal, the fish does carry one major negative drawback for environmentalists. Mahi-mahi caught by the longline fishing system are considered to be very unfriendly to the environment: the nets have massive amounts of bycatch and often destroy sea turtles, sharks, and--yes, indeed-- actual dolphins. Seafood lovers should best avoid mahi-mahi caught by this common method and instead opt for fish caught with a line-and-pole method.