The Whole Branzino Phenomenon

I feel as though I'm missing something.  Last month, I ate in three or four restaurants, two of which specialize in seafood.  At all of them, the "whole fish special" was always branzino.  It just seems a little silly to me that all of these places have the same whole fish, and one of them wasn't even in Richmond, so I know it's not because of a local trend.  Mamma Zu and Edo's Squid have had branzino on their menus for years, so I don't think it's a recent trend.  Why is it so common to feature whole branzino?

Photo from www.bonappetit.com