MAZATLAN, MEXICO, MARIANNE SMITH, SEPTEMBER 20, 2009 -- Here is an odd question about the dorado [also mahi-mahi, dolphinfish] we've been catching.

We normally fish from a sailboat and clean our catch then and there, tossing the inedible part of our catch overboard to feed the local marine life.

Our fillets are eaten fairly quickly and I've never noticed anything unusual about any of our catches, dorado included.

However, this September finds us in a bungalow in Mazatlan while our boat is on the hard getting its engine rebuilt. We bought some dorado at the old mercado downtown and watched the fish monger fillet it for us. So, we know it was dorado, and we know it was quite fresh.

We took it back to the bungalow, cooked it, and ate it with no problemo.

However, I happened to get up out of bed about 4 a.m. to get a glass of water, and I noticed something glowing greenishly in the kitchen garbage pail. I turned on the light, and the glow-in-the-dark substance was the last bits of dorado fillet that we'd chucked into the garbage.

Considering how a live dorado flashes all those brilliant colors, I'm not too surprised that the flesh glows in the dark. But, has this phenomenon been observed? Or, am I finally going nuts from Mazatlan's heat and humidity?

This was the first time I ever got up in the dark and had an uncovered bucket of kitchen garbage nearby.

And this wasn't a faint glow. It looked like the brightness and color of those glow sticks that kids get at county fairs. We've seen a lot of bioluminescent water, and quite bright, too. Maybe our dorado swallowed a lot of bioluminescent critters somewhere out there.

Next time you snag a dorado, save some and see if you get the same results when all the lights are out.