They are in our dishes everyday, they fill our freezers, fishes are among the favorite meats of the planet, and Madagascar doesn’t do exception to the rule. With near 3500 km of seashore and near 40 watercourses, the red island is well served in aquatic animals. In this article we list you our selection of the top 10 fishes you would encounter in Madagascar. They are those you will certainly see between your knife and fork at Madagascar, they are the laureate of restaurant menus and households on the island. Here we go, we are revealing you all in this article. 

1- Tilapia of Africa

Front of your place setting, it is certainly the fish you would encounter the most, the tilapia is a fish from freshwater. It is the favorite fish of the Madagascar people. You will encounter it in the hole of a river, in a pond, or in a lake. The fish start to be eatable at 7 cm and grow until  35 cm . It can be eaten with a sauce, fried, grilled, boiled, cooked with vapor. The fish has a white meat, thick ligature, scales medium size. For fans of fishes, know that in the island all the fish parts can be eaten by the habitants. The taste of the meat is soft and a little bit iodine. You would find the fish proposed  in small restaurants all across the island. The fish is not often served in high standards restaurants or gastronomic restaurants.   

The best way to eat the fish is to have it fired in oil boiled at 100°C or have it cooked with a tomato sauce. Rice, potatoes, semolina, chips, fit well with the fish.

2-Carp

Second position on our rating the carp is one of the most favorite fish of Madagascar people. The fish distinct itself with fat meat, thin skin, and bones inside the pulpit. The taste of the meat is strong in iodine flavor. The carp lives in freshwater as well and to the adulthood age it can measure until 80 cm. In your dishes, you will encounter it cooked with a sauce, grilled, or by vapor, it is not often fried. Plus, it is more present in restaurant menus. The scales of the fish is big, and the fish is known to live up to 20 years or 70-100 years for some species.

The carpus is one of Malagasy favorite dishes when meet in family. It occupies this position due to its particular taste and the fishing facilities.  

In french the carpus is present in several expression like “muet comme une carpe” “mute like a carp”, that means “mute like a grave”; or “le saut de carpe” “the carpus jump” which is a tonic jump to stand up or diving in water.   

3-Eel

Also a freshwater animal, the eel occupies the third position of our ranking. Found in the rivers of the island, the eel is very popular with the peasants of the big island. His fishing is an activity that transmits with generations, if you travel by a national road you would probably meet peasants selling their fishing rewards. The eel dish is common and appreciated in campaigns, in town it is a rare meat that has his lovers. The fish is fished in campaigns for the majority of his production. Due to this fishing constraint, the eel meat remains expensive in Madagascar. 

Eel in Madagascar can length until 1.5m, on their skin scales are small, and ligatures of the pulpit are small size. There are bones inside the pulpit.

In  restaurant if you want to order eel you would go to a traditional restaurant or find a restaurant with divers variety of water products. The eel would be served with sauce, there are not many ways to cook it. For this reason we advise you to eat it with rice or if you want it drier with fries.

4-Grouper fish

Sea fish, the grouper fish occupy the fourth rank of our list. It is a red, or black and red streak fish for the red grouper fish and the blacktip grouper. It can be fished at the border of Madagascar. The fish is delicate and with a strong iodine taste in the finish.

There are nearly one hundred varieties of grouper fish that can be found. The fishing of the grouper fish is made at 1 to 300 meters deep in the sea. The grouper fish is a carnivorous animal and it has not a specific sex. They are born female and can transform with male gametes when needed. At madagascar, you will meet the grouper fish meat in fillet in your dishes especially in the capital, in the provinces you might encounter the whole fish if you go to local suppliers restaurant. The fish can be eat grilled, fired, cooked with a sauce, or vapor cooked.

To be known the grouper fish is a slow swimmer fish, moreover, he has a large jaw that serves him to feed its self in the sea. His size can go up to  1 m in range and 2 m in length.

5-Sailfish

Sailfish is a sea fish that can measure until 3m  at adultage, it has one of the most appreciated fish meat in the island. The meat is white and is melting in the mouth when fresh, it can be eaten smoked, in carpaccio, fried, vapor cooked, or any way you want to eat it. We rank it at the fifth position of our article, in Madagascar it remains a fish that is found in seacoast restaurants and hotels. The span of the sailfish is enlarged by his dorsal fin that helps him to move at a maximum of 110 km per hour. The sailfish owns a pike at the end of his head that helps him to chase away his prey. The billfish is found from the surface of the ocean to 350m deep in the ocean. The fish is most of the time chasing in groups, if you are fishing the sail fish as soon you would be in contact with one of them you might encounter other of them nearby.

Fun fact about the fish his name come from the special shape and color of their sails fins.

6-Barracudas

Positioned at the 6th position of our ranking, the barracudas is one of the best meat to eat fresh in a salad. The meat is flimsy and rich in shortening and protein , it fits very well with avocado, onion, and lettuce. The fish itself is a great predator of the ocean, it used to eat small fish to evolve and it fits out good teeth to catch its prey. The fish can be found at the surface of the ocean to 100 m deep, and measure from the 60 cm to 100 cm.

Other ways to eat the fish is fried or grilled, it is the kind of cooking method you will encounter the most in the restaurant of the island if you are eating a barracuda. The fish is not very popular there, but as sea fish it happens often that fishman bring it back from their tour.

The meat of the barracuda is very particular and rich in flavor, for this reason we have put it in this position despite its rarity, for us it is a must to eat fish.

7-the Ignobilis Carangue

The Ignobilis Carangue is a large fish that length up to 2m for 80kg. It is a group living fish, they are often served fresh in the restaurant or mixed with salt to be sold on the beach.

The Ignobilis Carangue is the biggest fish of his family. In restaurant, you would be able to order the fish to get catch if you want to eat one of them.

The fish is living to water surface to 200 deep, it is a fish that is quite easy to catch. We have ranked it to the 7th position of our ranking, because the fish is large and it offers good possibilities in terms of cooking. Moreover, if you don’t eat it in restaurant you would certainly encounter it when moving to the beach sold by hawkers. Whatever you do eating fish or not, you would encounter this fish if you move to a sea area. 

8-Tuna

Positioned at the 8th position of our ranking, the tuna is probably one of the most popular fish of the island. He is eaten in salad, cooked, in carpaccio, canned, whatever you want to eat it, you might find a place in the island offering tuna cooked in the way you want it. The fish is captured in netting fishing with mass fishing or it can be captured by local fisherman with angling.

The meat of tuna is red, the color is a sign of a meat that is very rich in protein. To eat tuna you will have to go in a special restaurant for foreigners, or go to swell places where the top of the population of the island meet.

9-Sharks

I don’t introduce you sharks; it is a fish that is known by everyone due to his carnivorous instinct. The cold blood fish can be encounter off the coast of Madagascar, from north to south it is found specially out of the out of the coral reef in deep sea. It is small fishermans that captured from time to time small sharks in their nets, when it happens they can be released or brought it back to earth to be cooked.

For this reason, the shark meat is served only in small restaurant in seaboard and with fluctuation of the fishing. The meat is most of the time eaten cooked grilled or fried, it has a special taste with a strong ocean smell. However, it is a meat that people like to encounter in their dishes and is popular among villagers that eat it at times.

10-Sardine

Only to 10th position of the ranking sardine are fishes that you will also have in Madagascar. You would have them in canned or fresh from the sea. They could go until to 15 cm of length but due to popularity of the fish Madagascar people don’t like it too much, it is considered like a mass product. Nevertheless, for fans of fish acknowledge that you will encounter fresh sardines in the board of Madagascar and you could savor it fried, grilled with his famous peanuts sauce during night rave up in the center of the city where you are living.

Sardines are also encountered in canned and it is under this format that they are mostly consumed by locals. Canneds come from everywhere, from north africa, from south africa, india, china, europe and they are eaten in salad or main meal. They are appreciated by young and old, and as every sardine canned they didn’t need any preparation. So if you are doing a picnic, or planning to eat on the road, canned of sardines would be a great alternative for you. They fit well with bread, lettuce, rice, and any salt dry crackers. You can give it a try if you travel out there.

11-Jobfish

11th on the ranking because we like to give you more, the jobfish is a fish you could capture off the coast of Madagascar. The fish earned a great jaw which is specific to the kind, and its meat is excellent grilled. The fish can measure until 1m for 16 kg, in its natural habitat, it is eating small fishes. It lives at around 200 m deep in the ocean.

The fish is not very popular on the island, it is not a fish that is often eaten by the residents of the island, that explains his 11th position. Worldwide the fish is very appreciated, you might have had the chance to eat its meat already, if  not give it a try.

12-Swordfish

Very famous worldwide, the swordfish has a white flesh, with slightly sweet taste and it has a meaty texture. The fish is really appreciated in gastronomic dishes globally, it is famous for its meat as for its shape.

The fish can be encountered at 600 to 1500m in the sea that makes him a fish hard to catch. They are solitary fish, living until 9 years and can reproduce 4 to 5 times.

Despite their international fame, they are not very present in Malagasy people’s plate when it comes to meals.

13-Whiting

The Whiting occupy the 13th rank of our list. Whiting are coming from the north Atlantic, that is why we put it at the last of the ranking, but you would find some of them in Madagascar. The fish is very popular in the capital, they are usually cooked fired or in vapor with leeks or with any other sauce. Whiting meat is very crumbly and salty when cooked, it has many bones. The fish fit well with rice and stir fried vegetables. 

In the Atlantic the fish is found almost on the surface of the water at 2 m to 6 m deep, they can go until 200 m deep, and live until 15 years. When they arrive in Madagascar the fishes are frozen, it is the only way to keep the fish in good eating conditions.