Weke, Moano, Kumu and Malu
The Goatfish Family
To many, the adage “Good things come in small packages” applies to the goatfish family. The moano, kumu and malu grow to the length of a ruler, offering meat that is delicate, sweet and mild. They are reef fish that can be caught year-round and average from 8 onces to 2 pounds. Their coloration, distinguished by mottled shades of red, serves to camouflage the fish as they swim around the coral.
This family also includes the weke‘ula, a rosy-red, deepwater fish that grows to 6 pounds, and the sandycolored weke with a yellow horizontal stripe, which is a bit larger than the moano, kumu and malu. The outcast of the group is the weke pueo, which has yellow bars on its tail…