Cooking and serving a whole fish is a thrifty culinary trick as the presentation is on trend, there's no waste, the food cost is low, and all the complicated cutting is avoided.

Buying a whole fish is like buying anything in bulk — the less it's processed, the better price you'll get per pound. It also cuts down on seafood mislabeling and fraud.

It's much easier to grill a fish whole, and shopping for whole fish guarantees you have the best seafood since there are more places to inspect the animal for signs of freshness.

Your local fishmonger may even give you a little extra street cred for going whole. Ask them to clean and scale the fish — any reputable fish counter should do this for free.