Extremely Rare Blue Lingcod Caught in Alaska OutdoorHub Reporters 08.02.16



Now this might catch you off guard if this showed up on your filet table.

An Alaskan fisherman caught a rare blue tinted lingcod in the Pacific Ocean and it was shared on Facebook. Though usually white-hued like halibut, the lingcod, a West Coast bottom-dwelling species, occasionally has an alien-like blue tint to it. The cause of this rare turquoise color is due to a bile pigment called biliverdin, which is responsible for turning the blood serum of these fish that freakishly odd color – but how this pigment gets into the tissues and flesh of the fish, or why only some lingcod turn this striking shade, still leaves biologists puzzled. Biliverdin is also the pigment that is responsible for that greenish color sometimes seen in bruises.

Although this fish looks like it’s been marinating in a tray of Blue No. 2 food dye, these rare, smurf-looking fish taste the same as their white brethren. And during cooking, the blue color vanishes entirely. Lingcod – a member of the greenling family – isn’t the only West Coast species to turn up with blue-green meat. Its cousins, the rock greenling and the kelp greenling, are sometimes tinted turquoise. With all that being said, anybody up for some blue sushi?