Beware, that fish you ordered could be absolutely anything

I don't eat fish - I've been vegetarian for the last 35 years or so - but I'm beginning to be quite thankful for that.

A study by advocacy group Oceana Canada shows that fish sold in restaurants and grocery stores is quite likely to be mislabelled. The study looked at 382 samples of fish sold in 177 retailers and restaurants across Canada, and used DNA barcoding to determine the actual species of fish. Around 44% (so, almost half) of the fish were not actually what they purported to be. 52% of the samples from restaurants were mislabelled, while grocery stores and markets fared slightly better with just 22% of the samples incorrectly labelled. Some types of fish were much more likely to be mislabelled: 100% of snapper, yellowtail and butterfish; about 50% of seabass; and around 30% of cod, halibut, tuna and sole. Most often, the fish actually turned out to be much cheaper fish like escolar (the fish dubbed "the laxative of the sea), tilapia or Japanese amberback.

The study draws no conclusion about where the mislabelling occurs - whether at the level of the retailing restaurant or store, or at the wholesaler stage, or even on the actual fishing boats themselves (that would be my guess). But, either way, it seems like you eat fish at your peril - it could be absolutely anything!