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There are
three primary species of Buffalo fish.
The three
species often mix and commonly are caught
together. Vary in appearance. Buffalo Fish
are available fall thru spring of the year.
See:
Gefilte Fish Recipes |
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Big Mouth
Buffalo |
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Colloquial
names: common buffalo, gourd head buffalo,
red mouth buffalo fish, stubnose buffalo,
mud buffalo, lake buffalo, slough buffalo
Size: Commonly
up to 30 inches and 15 pounds (6.8 kgs), but
30-40 pound fish are not unusual
The
bigmouth are the largest of the buffaloes.
They are most abundant in large rivers and
fertile shallow lakes. |
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Small Mouth
Buffalo |
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Colloquial names:
blue pancake, brown buffalo, sucker mouth
buffalo, rooter, razorback, quillback
buffalo, carp, humped back buffalo, liner,
roach back
Size: Smallest of the buffalo fish,
but can grow up to 15 pounds. It is usually
considered superior in flavor to the other
species.
The smallmouth
buffalo are more laterally compressed, have
more of a humpback than the bigmouth. The
smallmouth are more of a river fish,
navigating depths and currents that bigmouth
tend to shy away from. These fish are caught
more abundantly by commercial fishermen. |
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Quillback
Buffalo |
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Colloquial names:
carpsucker, American carp, silver carp,
eastern carpsucker, plains carpsucker
Size: Most adult quillbacks fall into
the 12 to 15 inch class and weigh 3 pounds
or so.
The quillback
are abundant in clearer streams and lakes.
Small streams occasionally have populations,
but their abundance is usually rare. |
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Nutritional value:
The buffalo
fish, very similar to carp. High are protein
(17%), relatively low in fat (7-8%), and
contains no carbohydrates.
Features
and benefits:
Buffaloes
resemble carp, but have firm whiter meat and
fewer bones. All of which makes high quality
buffaloes excellent value for the dollar.
Many consumers, with the fondness to fish,
likens buffaloes to catfish. These fish can
be cooked (even as gefilte fish), but in the
Midwest United States, these fish are
usually deep fried.
Product
forms:
Buffalo Fish
can be processed as either whole frozen,
head on and gutted frozen, headed and gutted
frozen, fillets (skin on or skinless)
frozen, and mechanically deboned (minced). |
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