Grey mullet (Mugil corrugatus)

A fish of the family Mugilidae, today rare in the seas near the coast of Madeira because of the use of explosives to catch it. ‘The rational fishing of the grey mullet’, says Mr Adolfo de Noronha, ‘is done with the drag net or with the set net, especially in summer, when it comes into the shallow coastal waters. It is not caught on the hook, and can come to the rod only by accident, provided the hook used is of very small size.’

The grey mullet is a very tasty fish and therefore fetches a high price at market. Besides the species we have just described, Mugil cephalus and M. auratus also occur in Madeira, the latter known by the name of tainha da moda.

Fishermen often call grey mullets mujas (a corruption of mugens) and also galinhas do mar (‘sea hens’). The latter name is due to their ‘having a true crop that recalls that of the hen and is formed by the caecal stomach, lined internally by an extremely thick epithelium’.