What is the Mahi mahi or Dorado?
The Mahi Mahi, also known as Dorado, is an oceanic pelagic fish, which belongs to the family Coryphaenidae, with the only genus Coryphaena, which in turn has two species:
-The Common Dorado or Dorado mverikos (Coryphaena hippurus) (Linnaeus, 1758).
-The Dwarf Dorado (Coryphaena equiselis) (Linnaeus, 1758).
In English, mahi-mahi (words of Hawaiian origin), mahi means something like "Male" and mahi mahi, means something like: "Very male", perhaps referring to the way in which it attacks and fights when captured.
The mahi mahi or common Dorado (Coryphaena Hippurus) is a marine fish, distributed throughout the world's oceans, in both tropical and subtropical waters. This species is common in Mexican waters; it can grow up to 2.30 meters, with an average weight of 40 kgs and an average life of 4 years.
What are the common names of the Mahi mahi or dorado (Coryphaena hippurus)?
The Mahi mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) is a fish that is found practically all over the globe; for this reason it has a great number of common names to identify it:
In Mexico: Dorado
In Spain: Lampuga
In English: Dolphin
In Hawaiian: MahiMahi
In Italian: Capone, Capuni, Cataluzo, Cavaglia
In Indian: Avoli, Baal,
In Malaysian: Belitong
In Syrian: Bakthi Bakthi
In France: Clic
In Brazil: Dalphino
In Nicaragua: Corado,
In Honduras: Perico
In Angola: Delfim
In Portuguese: Doirado
Where does the Mahi mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) live?
The Mahi mahi or dorado (Coryphaena hippurus) is an oceanodromous species, living near the surface of open waters in the high seas (5 to 10 m deep) where it forms schools that carry out long migrations; only occasionally are they found near the coast.
The distribution of dorado is restricted by the isotherm (temperature line) of 20º Celsius, which prevents the distribution of dorado in the northern and southern hemisphere; however, in some cold areas there is evidence of abundant presence of dorado, with temperatures between 21 to 30º Celsius and a salinity of 31%.
Dorado is present in warm, tropical and subtropical waters (18 to 27ºC), which makes this species one of the most abundant in the seas of the planet.
Mahi-mahi can be found on the west coast of North America, Hawaii, the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, the Caribbean Sea, South America, the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida coast, the Atlantic, West Africa, the South China Sea and Southeast Asia; and many other places around the world (Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans).
The live mahi mahi in the high seas, presents very striking body colors, with gold reflections on the sides, blue and metallic green on the upper and upper side, while it is white or yellow on the lower parts; juvenile specimens may present spots in the form of vertical bars on the sides of the body.
Once captured, the golden one acquires a grayish coloration towards the dorsal half and yellow tones ventro-laterally.
What is the Mahi mahi or dorado (Coryphaena hippurus) like?
The Mahi mahi or dorado (Coryphaena hippurus) is a fish with an elongated and compressed body; however the male is different from the females:
The male dorado has a laterally compressed head and body; in adult stage it has a bone on the front and top of its head which makes them have prominent forehead and head, with a very unique shape.
The dorado has no spines in the anal fin (it has 25 to 31 soft rays), nor in the dorsal fin (with 58 to 66 soft rays of contraction and movement); the dorsal fin extends from above the eye to almost the caudal fin while the anal fin, with a characteristic concave shape, extends from the anus to almost the caudal fin as well; the pectoral fins are very long (they are generally about half the size of the head).
The mahi mahi or dorado has a large mouth, with abundant small oval teeth in bands around the jaw, small oval tongue, cycloid scales (feather-like).
The female mahi mahi has a rounded head and is generally smaller than the males.
How big can the Mahi Mahi or Dorado (Coryphaena hippurus) be?
The mahi mahi can reach a maximum length of 1.5 meters.
What does the Mahi mahi mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) eat?
The Mahi mahi mahi or dorado (Coryphaena hippurus) is one of the favorite prey of all open sea species, with a mortality rate of 99.7% (only 0.3% make it past the first year of life), with an average life span of 18 months or less.
The mahi mahi or dorado however, to compensate the mortality rate, is a species that we could consider as perfectly adapted to its environment, since:
It is an effective and voracious hunter, congregating under floating objects to hunt nearby fish without discrimination.
It is carnivorous, a fast predator that consumes between 20% and 25% of its weight daily. It eats practically anything that swims in the sea (fish, zooplankton, some crustaceans, squid) and in general any type of organism found in sargassum shoals, floating garbage and pellets (including small fish of its species as part of its diet).
It has the fastest average growth rate among pelagic fish of its kind (billfishes, tunas, wahoos and blue marlin). It grows rapidly (5 cm to 9 cm per week in its juvenile stage to reach a weight of 20 kgs and a length of 1.2 meters in just one year).
High fecundity levels, as females can spawn two to three times per year and produce between 80,000 and 1,000,000 eggs per event.
It has a high birth rate, since they begin reproduction (continuous and permanent activity to ensure the perpetuity of the species) from three months after birth, with a relatively small size of 45 cm in length.
They reproduce in open waters and near the coast (if the water temperature is appropriate).
How do you fish for Mahi Mahi or dorado (Coryphaena hippurus)?
The Mahi mahi (Coryphaena Hippurus), compared to other species, is very appreciated by sport fishermen for being very voracious, since it can be caught with any kind of arrangement and lure, being one of the prey par excellence for sport fishing. It is generally caught in current areas and when they migrate, since they can be found in blue waters, moving in search of food.
The mahi mahi is also appreciated by commercial fishermen. In general a trolling rig, with 30 pound line is enough to catch a Dorado, we should try to use fluorocarbon leaders of 80 pounds or more to ensure that we will not lose our lures if in the area we do not expect the presence of toothy fish, with fluorocarbon or nylon is more than enough, if we expect the presence of toothy fish, we can use steel wire leaders, although this makes the specimens behave differently.
Some mahi mahi fishermen use their skin to "line" and make lures; to do this, they remove the skin (which can easily be removed and separated from the meat) and put it to dry, the skin maintains its flexibility when it is moistened again, once dry it can be stored in bags and used later.
The Mahi-mahi or Dorado is a very appreciated fish due to its beauty, size and food quality. In Pescatore Seafood we have it ready to cook in different presentations: portions, burgers, breaded, tacos and steaks.