Whole fish in the grocery store are older than 12 hours I can guarantee! Most are probably several days old.

Jason

We often keep fish on ice, LOTS OF ICE for 36 hours. The eyes are still clear and the gills are still pink.

Yeah you can, as long as the entire carcass (head, tail) remains intact and can be measured for legal length. I know the provision is in the regs (though I paraphrased it), but I'm too tired to look for it right now.

Needless to say, a gutted fish may not be culled back into the water when you catch a bigger one later

I used to comercial fish (rod and real) for snapper. We would immediately ice them down. When we got in we would take them, iced to a cooler that was set about 35-37%. sometimes it would take the buyer a couple of days to pick them up. They then sold most, wholesale, to fish markets. That makes it up to three days boat to customer, minimum. When we catch kingfish, not commercial, we ice them and then clean them when we get in. I have kept them at least a week in the coolest part of the 'fridge, and find them better than if frozen and thawed. If the stomach/guts are not punctured, I can't see how gutting them makes any difference, if kept near freezing. capt david