The Temple Tax Fish

"...go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."


The Right Fish
St. Peter’s fish, a creature called musht that is widely marketed as the fish holding the Temple tax coin, in fact can't be caught with a line at all.

There were only three creatures fished commercially in the Galilee back then: musht, barbels, and sardines. In all likelihood the fish Peter caught to pay the Temple tax was a barbel, a big silvery carp with barbs at the mouth. It was the only fish with a mouth large enough to hold a coin, and it was caught with a line. Barbels generally fed off of sardines, which Peter likely baited it with, and creatures living near the bottom of the sea, such as snails. Quite plausibly, some unhappy ship merchant lost a four-drachma coin to the bottom of the sea, and the barbel Peter caught picked it up in its mouth.


It's really disconcerting to eat something that's looking at you. I finally yanked off some fin or something, I don't know what it was, and plopped it over its head.

Is it possible it was a fish without commercial potential? I suppose - I'm taking my information from a book by Mendel Nun, who puts the qualifier 'commercial' on it. However, I don't see why another clean fish wouldn't have been fished for commercial reasons, perhaps in smaller quantities. Furthermore, he is one of the foremost authorities on the Sea of Galilee, and I doubt he would exclude that possibility if it were relevant.

The Wrong Fish: Love That Money!
The alleged St. Peter's Fish is the flavorless piece of junk pictured above, which Peter wouldn't have caught when Jesus ordered him to 'throw out a line,' because tilapia (musht) aren't attracted by bait - they feed on plankton, and are caught with a net.

Its flat shape made it popular with frying pans, and the easily detachable backbone and few other bones made it popular with diners, at least according to the scholarly expertise of Mendel Nun – see below for my opinion.

There was a plentiful supply of musht in the Galilee, which decreased the price and increased the profit margin. Combined, these things made it popular with both restaurant owners and their clientele – so why not up the sales, and term it St. Peter’s fish? Even I couldn’t leave the Sea of Galilee without eating “St. Peter’s fish,” and I knew all of the above at the time!

If you think I’m being cynical, consider that virtually everyone along the Galilee at the time would have known perfectly well that a tilapia couldn’t pick up a coin, and that it’s been in travelogues as such for at least 1700 years.