Redfish is a name applied to several kinds of fish, but particularly to the red drum, also called channel bass. This game fish lives along the Atlantic Coast of North America from Massachusetts to northern Mexico. It has a gray skin with a reddish sheen. The fish grows to 5 feet (1.5 meters) long and may weigh up to 75 pounds (34 kilograms), but red drums of over 40 pounds (18 kilograms) are rare. This popular food fish has been caught in large numbers, and fishery agencies have restricted the catching of red drums in the Gulf of Mexico.
The term redfish is also applied to the California sheephead, a red fish of southern California. This richly colored fish has a thick, crimson body with blackish-purple fins. It weighs up to 15 pounds (7 kilograms) and is sometimes called the fathead, because of the fatty lump on its blunt forehead. Its flesh is prized, especially by the Chinese, who dry and salt it. Redfish is also the name given in Alaska to the red salmon, also called sockeye salmon (see Salmon).
