Which would you prefer to order from the menu – slimehead or orange roughy? Antarctic toothfish or Chilean sea bass? Slimehead and orange roughy are the same fish, just as the Chilean sea bass is the Antarctic toothfish with a new name. Orange roughy just sounds so much better on the menu or in the supermarket than slimehead. The same goes with Chilean sea bass, which doesn’t happen to be related to sea bass at all, but the name is appealing.
Overfishing has led to the near collapse of many popular species. Cod fish on the Grand Banks are at 12% of healthy levels while red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico is at 6%. Less popular and attractive fish are now being marketed often with new names and are now themselves in danger of being over-fished. Who would imagined that a slimehead fish would be so popular with a simple name change? An intriguing article from the Washington Post: