John Dory

The English name John Dory derives from the French 'jaune doré' meaning 'golden yellow' - a good description for this unusual looking fish. John Dory is a delicious fish with delicate white flesh and a firm, flaky texture. A saltwater fish, it has a mild, slightly sweet flavour, and can be served sautéed, baked, steamed, poached, or even coated in breadcrumbs and fried.

John Dory is a very unusual looking, flat, bony fish with long spines on its dorsal fin. It lives throughout the tropical and temperate latitudes of the world oceans (except in the eastern Pacific and western Atlantic oceans.) Its discus-shaped body appears broad from the side but when viewed head-on it appears very thin, giving the John Dory the ability to confuse predators - larger bony fish and sharks - simply by turning to the side.

Further contributing to John Dory's odd appearance are the large black dots on its sides, which are thought to be a form of misdirection - predators take the dots for eyes, and attack its meaty flank instead of its real eyes, giving the Dory an opportunity to escape. The false eyes led the John Dory to be referred to sometimes as the St. Peter fish (or versions of that in Italian or French) because of a legend that the black spot on its side represents St. Peter's fingerprints. The name may also refer to the French dorée, or gilded.

While scarce in the United States, John Dory is popular in the U.K. as well as in Australia and New Zealand because it's indigenous to the North Atlantic and also found in the cooler parts of the South Pacific. It's comparable to turbot, sole, and brill.