Introduction | Nutrition | Products
What is Cobia?

Cobia is also known as black kingfish, black salmon, ling and, lemonfish. Cobia is a rapid growing pelagic fish which can be found in the tropical and subtropical waters worldwide, except for the eastern Pacific Ocean. Cobia enjoys water temperatures between 20-30 Celsius degrees, so wild Cobia usually migrate South during fall

and winter. Adult cobia is a large fish with maximum size reaching 75kg and 1.8m. Cobia is brownish-grey on the flanks and back and silvery on the belly with two narrow dark bands from the snout to the base of caudal fin. Their bodies are smooth with small scales and shaped like a torpedo. Cobia is also among the most highly-prized recreational species in many countries.

There has been increasing interest in the cultured cobia in the last decade. There are several reasons why farming cobia has gained popularity:

1. Rapid growth rate.
Cobia can grow up to 6-7kg within one year after hatching. This is three times the growth rate of Atlantic salmon. With optimal feeding and temperature condition, Cobia might grow up to 6-10kg within one year. Cobia can be sold at just nine month of ages, compared to 2-3 years for salmon. Cultured cobia has a relatively low feed conversion ratio, which means that it does not require a large amount of fish feed to mature. Cobia possesses the economic advantages over salmon.

2. Great taste
Cobia is a very tasty fish. Moreover, different parts of Cobia have different combination of fat and moisture contents and therefore offer variety of tastes.
Cobia can be served raw as sashimi and can also be fried, boiled, steamed or cooked in soups.

Our products have been marketing raw cobia to Japan and local markets in recent years. Cobia has now carved itself a niche in Japan and Taiwanˇs sashimi market. Raw cobia meat is fatty and juicy and is comparable to the tasty Toro (fatty tuna).
Cooked Cobia has snowy white flesh with a delicate taste. Chefs in the US have recently added Cobia to the seafood ingredient selection. Cobia can be fried, boiled, steamed or cooked with soups. Some chefs believe that it is best cooked in steak form.

3. A substitute fish to salmon
There seems to be an opportunity for a new substitute fish as studies have shown that international taste for salmon are declining. Norway, which produced a lot of salmon in the past, is now investing in fish farming operations in Vietnam. US has also been investing in cobia farming projects in the past few years.

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