Sometimes small and unassuming critters are more important than we realize. A sanddab is a classic example. Hold out your hand flat — that is about the average size of a sanddab.
Bigger ones can grow up to 9 inches long or so, but most are considerably smaller. They are the smallest member of the same family that includes the highly prized Pacific halibut (which can get to be many hundreds of pounds), our local California halibut, petrale sole, starry flounder and others. Sanddabs missed out on the growth gene.
They did not miss out on the good taste gene, which is standard throughout the family. They taste fantastic and are super easy to prepare (30 seconds on each side in very hot peanut oil).
On my charter boat WaveWalker, we were sometimes chartered to go catch big numbers of sanddabs by people who knew how good they taste and how easy they are to prepare.
Some folks like facts, so here are a few interesting factoids about sanddabs:
They reach sexual maturity by 1 year of age. Age is determined by tiny otoliths extracted from sanddabs (a job I wouldn’t care to have). One of the more interesting facts is that some sanddabs are left-eyed (both eyes on the left side of their body) and some are right-eyed. Each baby sanddab develops a habit of which side it will rest against the sand and the eye on that side migrates to the side that faces up.
Something I learned by decades of observation at sea is that sanddabs hold a pivotal and important position in the food chain. They eat things generally small enough that we don’t have much culinary interest in (too small), but sanddabs are a food source for many critters we do care about.
Some of the tasty fish that we target, in turn target sanddabs for their own consumption. Going on the principle that you are what you eat, that adds to the flavor of fishes like white seabass, lingcod, halibut and sharks.
Sanddabs are widely distributed along the Pacific Coast from the Bering Sea to Cabo San Lucas. Their population is estimated to be highly robust and plentiful throughout their range.
I know from experience where they tend to hang out at depths from about 100 feet on out to several hundred feet and those productive areas have produced many a fine meal for me, my family and my charter passengers.
If you can find sanddabs in a fish market or restaurant menu, or better yet if you can get out on the ocean to catch your own, your taste buds will be happy you did.
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
