Cum Cheung Yu. Roughly, it translates to "Golden Gun Fish" or "Golden Fortune Fish." Or "Golden Good Life Fish." The argument on meaning bounced back and forth between Cantonese and English, so the details got a little fuzzy.
No one knows it's actual English name, hence our foray into linguistic nuances. Old Man suggested butterfish, but he tends to suggest that for a lot of different looking fish that he cooks.
While Man and Mama were discussing the nuances of the name, Old Man saw me take a picture and decided to help. By opening the fish's mouth.
A little disturbing, but photogenic all the same.
Once we had finally given up on finding a suitable translation, we were next treated to its history. This fish was unknown to the Chinese back 40 years ago. Old Man's theory (which is, as always, told as fact) is that China stole the babies from the Caribbean. Now these poor suckers are farmed there.
"Forty year before, $4/lb. Now $2.99/lb. Cheap a dollar."
Yup. In our family, the bottom line always comes down to money.
photogenic indeed! would have loved a full body shot so we can guess the fish genus.
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