Online Extra: Barramundi: The Next Big Fin?

With Chilean sea bass nearly fished out and chefs across the country looking for the next hot catch, the answer may have arrived from Australia. Barramundi, another kind of sea bass with white flakey meat, recently graced White House tables at a dinner for Australian Prime Minister John Howard. This summer the fish also turned up on menus at such fancy Manhattan venues as the Sea Grill at Rockefeller Center and Alain Ducasse.

It might surprise diners to learn the barramundi on their plates weren't hauled in by any fishermen. They're actually raised in huge tanks on a fish farm in Turner Falls, Mass.—about 100 miles west of Boston—owned by a publicly traded Australian company called Australis Aquaculture. And because they're grown indoors without antibiotics or hormones and fed mainly with soy meal, barramundi may avoid some of the tricky environmental and health worries that have held back previous U.S. aquaculture efforts.