Meet the Striped Grey Mullet of Florida

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About Striped Grey Mullet

Striped grey mullet is the most abundant species in the family Mugilidae, inhabiting the coastal areas around the Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic Ocean. It is catadromous, meaning it spends its adult life in fresh, brackish estuarine habitats and returns to the coastal ocean to spawn. Striped grey mullet is a bottom-feeding species and considered important in the overall Gulf marine ecosystem because it’s preyed upon by a range of other fauna.

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Production

The Gulf Coast has supplied the majority of striped grey mullet in the United States since at least the 1960s. In 2014, Gulf Coast fishers brought in nearly 10.5 million pounds of mullet — about 89% of the total U.S. mullet harvest.

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 Exportation

According to U.S. trade data, roe exports, as well as both meat and roe imports, have remained fairly steady over the last decade, while meat exports have shown a generally increasing trend. The weight of exported mullet meat far exceeds the weight of exported roe, the value of mullet meat.