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White Mullet; Blue-back Mullet; Liza Blanca
This mullet occurs from Cape Cod to Brazil on our Atlantic Coast, and on the Pacific side from Chile to Lower California. It is abundant, especially in the tropics, and enters the sea more freely than M. cephalus, next to which it is the most important food species of the family in our waters. It is a common fish in the markets of Porto Rico where it is called "Liza" or "Josea." Like the striped mullet, it enters fresh water, specimens having been obtained by us from freshwater streams near Caguas, the interior of Porto Rico.
Colour, dark olive above, with some bluish reflections; silvery below; sides without dark streaks; a small dark blotch at base of pectoral; pectoral and dorsals pale, with numerous small dark punctulations; caudal pale, yellowish at base, the margin blackish; anal and ventrals yellowish; side of head with 2 yellow blotches.