A feast of lampuki
The scientific name of the lampuka most common in the Mediterranean - the one we buy and eat - is Coryphaena hippurus. There's another kind of lampuka, which fishermen know as lampuka rara, the Coryphaena equisetis. The English name is the dolphin-fish (and Pompano dolphin-fish for the rara), but this is only a technicality. English-speaking people in general are not at all familiar with this fish, unless they are from the Caribbean region or the Mediterranean, which means that the name 'dolphin-fish' causes confusion in any case. The name dorado is sometimes used, but even this can lead to mix-ups in identity, as dorado is occasionally used for other kinds of fish. The Maltese name lampuka comes from the Sicilian alampuca/alampuja, which in turn comes from the Italian lampuca/lampuga/lambuca. The word lampuga is also known in Spanish and Serbo-Croat. Despite its abundance in Mediterranean waters, this fish is rare in fish markets in Spain, France, Italy, Greece and North Africa, where there seems to be low culinary demand for it, and hardly ever listed on restaurant menus. This is in direct contrast to the Caribbean and Florida area, where it is the dominant fish for the table, and to Malta and Sicily, where it is very popular.
Lampuki are migratory fish, swimming across the Atlantic between the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, which they enter through the Straits of Gibraltar. They spawn in warm ocean currents through much of the year, and breed in the Mediterranean probably in June and July. They stay in the Mediterranean for some months, until they reach a certain size, and those which survive fishing and being eaten by larger fish then swim out of the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic, and to the American continent. That's why we know lampuki to be fairly average-sized fish – we only see the young ones - but in the Caribbean they are huge, reaching a length of around 120cm, or five feet, and a weight of 45kg. There, they are called mahi-mahi, mahi being the Hawaiian word for 'strong'. They are abundant in the warm tropical and sub-tropical waters around the Caribbean islands, Mexico and the Gulf Coast of Florida, where they are caught commercially, because of their size, by hook-and-line.
At that great size, they are also clearly golden, which allows us to see why they got the name dorado, which means 'golden' – something that isn't immediately obvious to people in the Mediterranean who see them only as fairly small greyish fish with some blue and green translucence on the sides and back. When lampuki are removed from the water, they change colour, finally fading to a muted yellow-grey after they die. The distinguishing characteristic between the male and the female is the head: the male head is rounded, protruding well above the body in maturity, while the female head slopes down towards the mouth, though this is more evident when the lampuki are very large. They live for three to four years.
Lampuki should be bought when very fresh, and preferably eaten within a couple of days rather than frozen for future use. Though they keep well in the freezer, they are then best used for pies rather than for grilling or frying. You can tell a fresh lampuka by its eyes, which are bright; the body is firm and shiny, the gills are a dark, moist red, and there is a definite sea-scent about it.
The lampuki season in Malta stretches from the end of August through to December. Maltese and Sicilian fishermen lay anchored floats out at sea for lampuki to shelter under. After they gather beneath them, they are drawn into nets. In 1972, a fisherman in St Paul's Bay realised that palm fronds tied to these floats increased the surface area of lampuki shelter, and also encouraged the growth of algae of which lampuki are fond, making the shelter even more attractive. Following that discovery, palm trees all over the islands were denuded of many of their fronds, but sustainable cutting is now practised. The feast of the one-time fishing village of St Julian's marks the start of the lampuki season, and the blessing of the boats.
Nowadays, many fishmongers are more than happy to oblige if you ask for your lampuki to be filleted. This allows the preparation of all kinds of recipes that move away from the traditional method of serving lampuki: cut into roti, dipped in flour and fried, perhaps with an accompanying piquant sauce.