Dory

Dory

Rating

Standard Names

John Dory (Zeus Faber), Silver Dory, Mirror Dory (Zenopsis nebulose), King Dory

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The Dory family are popular eating fish, led foremost by John Dory, which is identifiable by the dark round marking on its side (said to be the thumbprint left when the fish was picked up by St Peter).
They are caught mainly by trawling methods off the continental shelf along the southern half of Australia.
'Pacific Dory' or 'Basa' fillets are in fact imported catfish from Asia of no relation to the Dory family.
See also Oreodory, a closely related species.

		Government Stock Assessment
		Overfishing	Biomass	AMCS Listing	Accreditations
John Dory	Commonwealth	Sustainable		Eat Less	–
	NSW	Sustainable			–
Mirror Dory	Commonwealth Fishery + NSW	Sustainable		Undefined	–
	What do these terms mean?

The why and how of sustainability

Any disagreement about the sustainability of Dory is primarily around bycatch and interactions with protected species such as seals and deepwater sharks in the South East Trawl. Otherwise stocks are healthy and under appropriate management. So the question is around an acceptable level of bycatch and deaths of protected species, and whether you trust the government in adequately addressing these concerns.

It is worth noting that there are many dory species, including much frozen and imported fish labelled “dory” (much of which is likely to be Oreodory). In all cases of imported dory, unless you see a certification label such as Marine Stewardship Council, it is much better to choose the fresh Australian version.

Preparation and cooking

Though John Dory remains by far the most popular of the family, you should also consider buying MIRROR or SILVER DORY. These are cheaper, have a similar taste and are suited to the same cooking methods.

Dory’s have finely flaking, delicate sweet flesh that is best suited to gentle cooking methods such as steaming or pan frying on a low heat.