MANINI
■ Greetings to you, the fishermen of Hawai‘i. How are you folks? Winter is now here. So don’t forget, even though it gets really cold, lucky we live in paradise. Thus, this short story is about the manini (convict tang or surgeonfish). Very interesting stuff, especially to shore fishermen.
Manini, or convict tang, are familiar sights in the islands. Although not often thought of a stable fare, manini are delicious to eat raw or broiled. In the olden days, both chiefs and commoners sought the fish, even though manini were bony and tough-skinned, If eaten raw, manini were usually salted first. Salting flattened the dorsal fin that becomes stiff and upright (i moe kakala) soon after the fish is taken from the water, making the fish hazardous to swallow.…
