Dorado

Availability & Seasonality

The supply of locally-caught mahimahi is extremely limited and seasonal considering the high demand for this species. Although available most of the year, mahimahi catches usually peak in March-May and September-November. Most of the fish are between 8 and 25 pounds, but larger fish are caught by trollers and smaller fish by the pole-and-line skipjack tuna fleet.

Product Forms & Yields

Local fishermen market their mahimahi as fresh, whole fish. Most are purchased by up-scale restaurants in Hawaii and on the mainland. Some restaurants buy fillets from intermediary suppliers, but others prefer to receive the fish whole or grilled and gutted to retain good quality. Mahimahi over 15 pounds in body weight is the preferred market size. The average yield of fillet from whole fish ranges from 40-45%. A better yield can be recovered from large fish and from females than from small fish or males (which have bigger heads).

Shelf Life & Quality Control

Fresh mahimahi has a shelf life of 10 days if properly cared for (see Table 3). The fish caught by trolling (or incidentally by the pole-and-line aku boats) are only one or two days old and, hence, are typically fresher than the mahimahi caught by longline boats on extended trips. The first external evidence of deterioration in a whole mahimahi is softening and fading of bright skin colors. In a dressed fish, discoloration of the flesh exposed around the collar bone would indicate a loss of quality. Mahimahi retains better quality if it is not filleted until shortly before use. Imported mahimahi fillets of low quality may have high levels of histamines. Naturally-occurring spoilage bacteria probably act on the plentiful amount of histamine in mahimahi to produce biologically active histamines. When ingested in sufficient quantities, histamines give rise to an allergic-type reaction. Histamine problems can be avoided by properly chilling pelagic species from the time of capture to processing and consumption.

Mahimahi grow fast, up to almost 7 feet and 88 lbs. Schooling fish run in similar sizes, from around a pound to nearly 20 pounds at times; larger fish are loners, or else pairs bull and cow. Big bulls often reach 50 pounds in weight and can exceed 80 pounds on rare occasion. Large cows generally top out at 40 pounds or so.

Dolphin, Dolphinfish, Dorado

Dolphin ream the open sea in a continuous hunt for food. Anglers seek them along rafted weedlines and around any sort of large floating object. The location of schools may also be given away by feeding birds, particularly frigate birds. Mahimahi live near the surface in tropical and subtropical waters around the world. Young mahimahi swim together in schools, but older fish are usually found alone. Larger males prefer open ocean habitat while females and smaller males are commonly found near natural and artificial floating objects, including a floating brown algae called Sargassum (in the Atlantic and the Caribbean). Adults are found in open waters but also near the coast. Form schools. Feed on almost all forms of fish and zooplankton; also takes crustaceans and squid. Sexual maturity is reached in 4-5 months (3 for captive fish). Spawn in the open sea and probably approximate to the coast when water temperature rises. Eggs and larvae are pelagic. Attracting devices such as floating bundles of bamboo reeds or cork planks are used to concentrate dolphin fish before the nets are set.

Mahimahi, which means “very strong” in Hawai’ian, is a highly migratory pelagic species found in the world’s all tropical and subtropical waters including the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is also known as Dolphinfish, but has no relation to dolphins, a marine mammal. Mahimahi are brightly colored– the back is an electric greenish blue, the lower body is gold or sparkling silver, and the sides have a mixture of dark and light spots. Their bright pattern fades almost immediately after they’re harvested. Adult males have a square head shape but females have a more rounded head. Mahimahi can be distinguished from the pompano dolphin by its 55 to 66 dorsal fin rays and a very wide, square tooth patch on the tongue. Dorado is a very productive fish. They’re able to reproduce early in life, at 4 to 5 months old, and scientists believe mahimahi spawn every 2 to 3 days throughout their entire spawning season, perhaps even year-round. Females release between 33,000 and 66,000 eggs each time they spawn. In the Atlantic, they spawn under patches of Sargassum. Mahimahi are top predators and only have a few predators themselves. They feed in surface water during the day and eat a wide variety of species, including small pelagic fish, juvenile tuna, billfish, jacks, pompano, and pelagic larvae of nearshore, bottom-living species. They also eat invertebrates such as cephalopods (octopus, squid, etc.), mysids (small, shrimp-like creatures), and jellyfish. Large tuna, rough-toothed dolphin, marlin, sailfish, and swordfish feed on mahimahi, particularly juveniles. Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 58-66; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 25 - 31; Vertebrae: 31. Greatest body depth in adults less than 25% of standard length; tooth patch on tongue small and oval; single dorsal fin extending from above eye almost to caudal fin with 58-66 rays; a concave anal fin extending from anus almost to caudal fin; pectoral fin more than half of head length. Caudal vertebrae usually 18 (Ref. 10998). Mature males posses a prominent bony crest in front of the head. The color is striking with golden hues on the sides, metallic blues and greens on the back and sides, with white and yellow on the underparts. Small specimens have pronounced vertical bars on the sides of the body.

In East African waters, spawning season may last from March to early June and spawning occurs inshore. In the western Pacific, sex ratios were about equal during spawning season. Spawning in the western Atlantic occurs over an extended period of time. Spawn naturally in captivity without artificial inducement

Summary of Distribution: Atlantic, Indian and Pacific: in tropical and subtropical waters. Highly migratory species,
Note: Distribution range colors indicate degree of suitability of habitat which can be interpreted as probabilities of occurrence (fishbase.org)

	Trolling A trolling boat has multiple outriggers, poles and lines attached that use lures dragged across the ocean surface at speeds of 4 – 10 knots. Large beefy hooks are used with special durable lures allowing the fisherman to easily unhook the gamefish that has been caught and quickly get their lines back into the water. The larger the lures, the larger the potential fish, the larger the hooks. A tuna boat will usually make slow wide circles when trolling. A billfish boat will usually work ledges, fathom lines, zig zag area coordinates or make trolling circles if bait or a porpoise school is located and/or if they are fishing a FAD..
	Kite Fishing (Trolling) Kite Fishing Trolling is when you are....

	Pelagic Longline This fishery uses a longline to catch a variety of pelagic fish on the high seas such as tuna and swordfish. A deep-set longline is used to primarily target tuna and a shallow-set longline is used to target swordfish or mixed species including bigeye, Albacore and yellowfin tuna. Baited hooks are attached to a line that floats in the ocean using buoys and flagpoles.

With the Dolphins, anything goes. Private-boat anglers seek to find a school by trolling or by running and searching for visual signs. Once a school is located, it can usually be kept around the boat by restrained chumming with cut bait and/or by keeping at least one hooked fish in the water at all times. A hot school will eagerly accept jigs and all sorts of casting baits, including flies and popping bugs. If strikes slow down, cut bait often does the trick. Big or wise fish may insist on live baits. Countless Dolphin are also caught, both by design and incidentally, on the entire gamut of rigged trolling baits and artificial trolling lures.

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