Walleye - Sander vitreus vitreus

For a number of years in the 1990's, I lived with a bunch of guys in a house behind Tavern on Grand, a restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota. They were famous for their walleye sandwiches. Well, that was their claim to fame anyway.

Those sandwiches WERE pretty damn good.

The walleye is the Minnesota State Fish. (Hmm... seem to be on a "state animal" theme over the last couple posts.)

The walleye gets its name from its milky eyes. The eyes look this way because they reflect light due to a special membrane. This special membrane in their eyes also allows them to see very well in the dark. They are deep swimming fish, and so have a lower light environment than other game fish.

The walleye is closely related to the "zander," another fish in the pikeperch family. The zander, while tasting the same, is a cheaper, more plentiful fish imported from Europe. As revealed in a local news expose a few years ago, some some restaurants illegally advertise "walleye," when, in fact, they are serving zander.