Malu are less commonly caught than the ubiquitous moano/moana and I’ve actually only caught them on the Windward side of Oahu but at one time, they were caught all over. They are pink and white, with a black squarish spot in the middle of the body, hence the name side spot goatfish. They have a large head head like a moano, but a slimmer body like a white weke.

Moano have a stockier body than the malu and an 11 inch fork length individual is considered a big one. They have soft, flaky meat. Moano are usually steamed or fried, but have a lot of small bones so you have to be careful picking through the meat.

The 12 inch fork length malu I recently caught was steamed, and when we checked to see if it was cooked through, we found the uncooked flesh to be firm and mostly free of pin bones. When fully, the meat turned white, unlike the opaque meat of the moana. It was less fishy than moana and much easier to eat since there weren’t a lot of free floating bones. The meat melted in your mouth like moana does. Definitely worth keeping if they are large enough to steam.