Thread: What's the difference, if any,...

All three make good sashimi.

Originally Posted by ChileRelleno

The distinction between Northern, Southern and Gulf Kingfish are indeed visually significant enough to allow for easy identification.
And the Gulf, better known to us as Whiting is very distinctly different from the other two.

The DNR officer showed astounding ignorance of his knowledge of common species ID.
He'd likely screw up IDing juvenile Black drum from Sheepshead. Much less Spanish from juvenile King.
And this is his profession?

Now mix a bag of fillets and no one will be able to tell you the difference.

I'm not a regular on the pier (even though I wish I could be) but there were two officers out checking licences and coolers that day. I've no idea if the second officer was more knowledgeable, but it was a little nerve wracking. I thought I might have misidentified my way into some sort of fine while attempting to follow the rules.

In the old days, Park Rangers, and game wardens seemed to know more about wildlife, even though they weren't biologists. Specie ID is not a requirement for the position currently. Times change.

The reason that I say that the distinction is not significant is that there's no significance when it comes to limits, plus they all have small mouths, so there no differentiation in the bait and hook size. There's no difference that I can tell in how they feed or where they're caught, since one can often catch them in mixed schools. When they're caught, they all fillet the same and taste the same when they're cooked. That's the extent of my involvement with them! When I've caught a bunch of 'em, I don't sort them out by species for one reason - the information would mean nothing to me. I know the difference between the species and I CAN identify them, but what's the point unless one of them is the state record? Even then, I'm not into trophies, so I'd probably just treat a state record like all the others - fry it up!

I suppose that, come mating season, species differentiation matters to the fish, so only if reincarnation is a thing will it ever have significance to me. And that's if I come back as a kingfish.

Ground mullet (southern & northern kingfish) are more common in the bays & estuaries. I've caught them above I-10.
Very rarely will would GULF kingfish go up into the bays, they are more of a true surf fish, like pompano.

Oops, corrected my mistake.

Gulf and Northerns commonly feed in the surf zone, Southerns are usually found in deeper water though they will move up near the beaches to spawn and they are most common in the bays where the other two are not commonly found.
In 45 years I have only caught all three at the same location a handful of times.

Here is a good description of all 3 species from MS DMR:

ALMR does not differentiate between the species in their record keeping...

Gulf/Southern Kingfish

Whiting/Ground Mullet

Lamont W. Rigney

Eight Mile, AL

4/9/01

2lbs 15oz

When caught in the white sand surf, ground mullet sometimes look like whiting but once on ice for a while they really darken up.

I've noticed that change John. Makes it a lot easier to see the difference, as if it mattered.