Blackened Grouper
From The Admirals Kitchen is Open Again!!
Blackened Grouper
Ingredients
10 (6-ounce) grouper fillets
1/4 cup Cajun Spice Mix
5 teaspoons canola oil, divided
5 teaspoons butter, divided $
10 lemon wedges
Preparation
Rub each side of fillets with Cajun Spice Mix. Heat 2 1/2 teaspoons oil and 2 1/2 teaspoons butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 5 fillets; cook for 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Repeat procedure with remaining oil, butter, and fillets. Serve with lemon wedges.
Gulf Grouper
The Gulf Grouper, Mycteroperca jordani, whose common Spanish name is Baya and local name is Cabrilla, is a member of the Grouper or Epinephelidae Family, known collectively as “cabrillas” and “garropas” in Mexico.
The Gulf Grouper is gray-brown in color, and is characterized by its “grouper-like” appearance, with the fourth and fifth dorsal spines being the longest, and when alive, a series of solid, irregular blotches radiating out from the face area. They have tails that are straight or slightly concave, rounded notched gill covers, and the fins that are tipped in white.
The Gulf Grouper is found within rocky reefs and in kelp beds with large adults being common in shallow water at depths between 25 and 150 feet. They reach a maximum length of 198 cm (6 and-a-half feet) and up to 91 kg (200 pounds) in weight. They are voracious ambush predators feeding on small fish. The Gulf Grouper has a slow growth rate reaching maturity at age of six or seven years. They are aggregating spawners with females significantly outnumbering males indicative that they are protogynous hermaphrodites changing mid-life from females to males. They can be confused with the Broomtail Grouper, Mycteroperca xenarcha (second thru seventh dorsal spines of equal length). In Mexican waters the Gulf Grouper is found along the Pacific Coast of Baja and throughout the Sea of Cortez; they are absent from along the coast of the mainland coast south of Mazatlán.
The Gulf Grouper, due to its size, strength, and food value is an intense object of game fishing. It is considered an excellent food fish and is sold commercially in numerous local fish markets commanding high prices and is one of the important food fishes of the Sea of Cortez.
The Gulf Grouper is currently considered to be an ENDANGERED SPECIES due to population decline of at least 50% over the past 30 years, directly attributed to intensive recreational fishing pressure. There is also a significant decline in the size of the fish boated. This fishing pressure is likely to increase along with associated reef habitat destruction as greater investment in recreational fisheries occurs. It is a large species with high longevity and is caught at heavily fished spawning aggregations, both factors that make the species particularly vulnerable to overfishing. Historically it has dominated the rocky-reef fish community in terms of biomass comprising 45% of the total finfish production in the late 50′s to current levels of less than 1%. A generic table for Grouper that allows for the determination of the weight of fish from its length has been included with the hope that perhaps some fish can be handled as “catch and releases.”
Gray Whales are Back in Cabo!!!!
During the last two weeks we have seen the Gray Whales arrive in the waters surrounding Cabo San Lucas in large numbers. There cannot be many places in the world where on the same 2 and 1/2 hour whale watching tour you can encounter both Humpback and Gray Whales, and in such large numbers! Whale Watch Cabos guests have enjoyed many wonderful encounters in the past two weeks, our excitement at being able to share these amazing whales with visitors to Cabo has also been growing.
The pregnant female Gray whales usually enter the shallow waters of Magdalena Bay further north on the Baja Peninsula to give birth to their calves. Males and courting females head further south, including along the stretch of pacific coastline that borders the bay of Cabo San Lucas. The Gray whales unique feeding strategy of scooping and sieving sand means our encounters with them are often interesting, watching their feeding behaviors close to the shore.
Most of our whale watching tours these days are along the Los Cabos pacific coastline and spent going from the shallow waters to observe the Gray Whales feeding out to the deeper water to observe the acrobatics of courting Humpback Whales. Lately we have even had quite a few dolphin encounters, often they join the whales for short periods and travel alongside each other.
Sadly, it seems like every year there is at least one whale that has become completely entangled in fisherman’s nets and lines. To date this year there have been two sighted, but both were no where to be found when the rescue effort was in play.
We are very excited about the upcoming weeks – expecting baby Humpback whales to arrive with their momma’s! The babies are typically 10-12 feet in length and often are very inquisitive of their environment, often coming up close to the boat to check us out. This means we are expecting to see adult and baby Humpback Whales and Gray Whales all possibly on the same tour over the next few weeks here in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Gray Whale Info?
The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) is a baleenwhale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of 14.9 meters (49 ft), a weight of 36 tonnes (40 short tons), and lives between 55 and 70 years.The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were once called devil fish because of their fighting behavior when hunted. The gray whale is the sole living species in the genus Eschrichtius, which in turn is the sole living genus in the family Eschrichtiidae. This mammal descended from filter-feeding whales that developed at the beginning of the Oligocene, over 30 million years ago.
The gray whale is distributed in an eastern North Pacific (North American) population and a critically endangered western North Pacific (Asian) population. North Atlantic populations were extirpated (perhaps by whaling) on the European coast before 500 AD and on the American coast around the late 17th to early 18th centuries.However, on May 8, 2010, a sighting of a gray whale was confirmed off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea,leading some scientists to think they might be repopulating old breeding grounds that have not been used for centuries.In May and June 2013 a gray whale was sighted off the coast of Namibia – the first confirmed in the Southern Hemisphere.
BEWARE: Please beware of the guys in the street selling boat charters. If you wait till the day you are fishing and go to the dock where your boat is many times people will mislead you to another boat or dock trying to put you on a boat that was not meant for you. You need to have a person guide you to your boat, who is from a reputable charter company. This way there is no confusion or misleading. Please remember when renting Sport fishing boats in Cabo that you rent your boat from reputable and established business. Walk into a fishing fleet office and ask questions about what you are getting and what are the costs? You dont want to rent boats from vendors in the streets and you do not want to book through shady websites offering you the world. Check through travel forums about reputable fishing fleets to deal with. Look for testimonials about the fleet your booking, your charter with. Ask about what will the boat be supplying? Will it include beverages or lunches? How much does it cost to fillet your catch? Check to see if charter boat is insured? Ask about getting your catch smoked? Check cost of a fishing license. These are just a few things to consider when booking your charter boat. We will be talking more about this in the next weeks fishing report. Until next time good fishing and we hope to see you in Cabo soon. Come by the office here in Cabo and get all the latest up to date fishing report. http://www.jcsportfishing.comhttp://youtu.be/tSXN6pifQyQ
Craig Leonard
Cresta Del Mar Homesites/Homes
Century 21 Los Cabos Real Estate
Email: caboluxuryhomes@gmail.com
Website: http://www.vacationrentalsloscabos.com
Cell Dialing From U.S./CAN Cell 011 52 1 624 160 9039
Office Dialing From U.S/CAN 011 52 624 145 8631
Home Dialing From U.S/CAN 011 52 624 105 1458
Dialing Locally Cell 044 624 160 9039
Office Locally 145 8631
Home Locally 105 1458