Species sheet · The Edible Ocean
Thicklip grey mullet
The thick-lipped mullet with a taste of the estuary.
- Home-smoked
- Barbecued
- In fish terrine
- In French
- Mulet lippu
- Scientific name
- Chelon labrosus
- In the water
- A euryhaline fish of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, found from estuaries to shallow marine waters to 15 m.
- Season & buying
- Autumn and early winter, when mullets return coastward.
- Common length
- ~32 cm
- How to identify it
- Very thick, fleshy lips
Rounded head with lateral eyes
Large yellowish pectoral fin
On the plate
Fat, flavoursome flesh, more pungent than golden grey mullet.
Avoid: Eating it raw without prior freezing, given its estuarine habitat.
Its fleshy lips let it scrape algae and mud, its main diet.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
