| OCTOPUS | SHRIMP | SQUID |
| SHELLFISH | FIN FISH | FILLETS/LOINS |
| SPECIALTY ITEMS |
PHILIPPINE SCAD
The species name for Mackeral Scad is Decapterus macarellus. There is an almost identical fish, Shortfin Scad, caught in the same waters and also referred to as Galongong by the Filipinos. Shortfin scad's species name is Decapterus macrosoma.
The main season for catching scad in the Philippines is March/April through January.
Scad is caught off the Southern Philippines with most landings coming into Zamboanga city on the island of Mindanao.
These fish are frozen whole round, guts-in, head-on. Due to the delicate nature of the skin on this fish, the best packs are brine frozen so that the fish are individually frozen and the skins of the fish don't freeze together. The fish are hand laid in the case and packed 10 kg or 22 lbs per master cardboard carton with a poly liner.
Sizing is based on demand from the Japanese Tuna Fleet whom use this fish as bait on their boats. Fishermen need to know how many hooks they can bait with each box and these fish are graded as individual counts per 10 kg / 22 lb carton. We import the following size range of this fish: 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70 , 75 80, and 85 counts per cartons.
In
the raw state, scad has an off-white meat color. Of course the whole
round fish has the blood line in. The flesh cooks to a white color, the
blood line cooks up dark brown. It has a medium to soft texture
and medium-strong mackeral flavor (i.e. it is not as strong of a flavor
as other mackeral species). We have a fairly large customer base
using this fish for human consumption, as well as a substantial customer
base using this fish for bait for commercial and pleasure fishing.
The special nature of these types of mackeral is that they have a
rounded body versus a lot of other small mackeral species that are more
compressed or flat. The rounder body provides more edible meat on
the fish. The Vietnamese and Chinese community tend to prefer the
larger sized fish and the Filipino community tends to prefer the smaller
sizes.