A plastic laundry basket sits in the middle of the room, filled with dozens of snapper with iridescent yellow tails. Two men at stainless-steel tables wear yellow rubber overalls, giant waders, hats, and fingerless gloves as one skins fish and another preps an order.

Proprietor Todd Jaffy, a tanned and lean Floridian, explains his daily struggle. "The more uneducated a chef, the better a vendor can do," he says. It's the number-one issue that chafes him, as competitors sell humble fish as prized ones, such as farmed tilapia at grouper prices. Jaffy says his job is as much to educate his customers as to provide them with the best product, a responsibility not embraced among all wholesale dealers.