Dolphin on the menu ?

At a number of restaurants here in Florida, we have noticed they serve “Dolphin”. Now, this came as a bit of a surprise – we didn’t think people in the US would allow that kind of thing to be served – indeed I didn’t think it would be allowed by law. Naturally, Leanne forbade me from trying any while dining out here (not that I was likely to order such a dish – I’m not much of a fish person).

Another complaint we had was that one of the conference hotels here is called the “Walt Disney World Dolphin” hotel, and has two large sculptures on the top of the main building, which don’t look anything like dolphins !!! We thought this was rather “cheap” of Disney, and surprising given that they go to such much trouble with most other features here.

While talking with some locals this morning during my room monitor duties, I mentioned these problems, which elicited a laugh from them. They patiently explained that the “Dolphin” they serve on the menu was not actually the mammal (ie flipper), but rather a local sport fish, also known as the Mahi-Mahi. To be precise, it’s not called a “Dolphin”, but a “Dolphin Fish”, as opposed to the mammal the “Dolphin”. Which also explains why the creatures on top of the hotel do not look like the mammal we all know ! I’ll see if I can get some photos and upload them to my gallery to show what I mean.

So, we can rest easy now – we know they don’t eat flipper, and they don’t have a sea creature identification problem here in Florida. What a relief !