Monterey is one of California's iconic seafood spots, but that apparently doesn't mean you always get what you order at the city's eateries and grocery stores.

DNA testing in Monterey showed that that more than one-third of the seafood samples collected from 17 grocery stores, restaurants and sushi venues were mislabeled according to federal standards.

Those results were released Thursday by the international ocean advocacy group Oceana and the Monterey Weekly. The publication targeted species with regional significance and those that were found to be mislabeled from previous studies, including red and yellowtail snapper, wild salmon and sole.

Oceana had other groups have found higher rates of fish mislabeling in Los Angeles (55 percent) and Boston (48 percent), and similar rates in South Florida (31 percent). Last year, the group launched an initiative to reduce what's been dubbed "seafood fraud," in which one species is substituted for another.

The practice can undermine local fishermen and consumers' ability to make choices based on fishing practices, location and variety of seafood.

"Given how famous Monterey Bay is for fresh, local seafood, if we are seeing seafood fraud at this level, it's happening everywhere," said Geoff Shester, California program director for Oceana. He was not aware of any San Diego-specific study on the issue, though his group is testing seafood at other spots nationwide.

Oceana said the biggest surprise was the discovery that restaurants selling popular Monterey Bay sand dabs were actually selling juvenile flathead sole. None of the fish labeled as sand dabs were Pacific sand dab found in local waters, DNA tests showed.

We still dont know whether the baby flatfish sold as sand dabs came from Alaska or as the result of trawling in a local fish nursery habitat," Shester said. Either way, residents and tourists seeking this famous Monterey Bay seafood dish at a local restaurant are being duped, at the expense of local hook-and-line fishermen who can catch real sand dabs sustainably.

Read more:
DNA tests show seafood fraud haunts iconic port