Posted on 12/31/2010 11:10:13 AM PST by decimon
MIAMI (Reuters) – Florida marine conservationists have come up with a simple recipe for fighting the invading lionfish that is gobbling up local reef life -- eat them.
The Key Largo-based REEF conservation organization has just released "The Lionfish Cookbook," a collection of 45 recipes which is the group's latest strategy to counter an invasion of the non-native reddish brown-striped fish in Florida waters.
"It's absolutely good eating -- a delicacy. It's delicately flavored white meat, very buttery," Lad Akins, director of special projects for Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF), told Reuters. He authored the cookbook along with a professional chef, Tricia Ferguson.
Red lionfish, a prickly predator armed with flaring venomous spines like a lion's mane that give them their name, are native to the South Pacific, Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
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Unlike the toxic Fugu pufferfish or blowfish, which is an expensive delicacy in Japan but requires careful expert preparation to avoid potentially fatal poisoning, Akins says lionfish meat is safe to eat and contains no venom.
"The venom is only in the spines. Cooking the fish would denature the venom, even if you left the spines on. It's simple enough just to cut the spines off," he said.
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Now if we can just get the socialists to eat the communists.
Spring fishing vacation possibilities here. Thanks for the idea.
They need to have a “Lionfish Rodeo” and give a prize to the one who catches the most! Then they could have a big feed at the end of it, using all the fish they caught!
I must admit, I think this might be one of those times when I’d side with the environmentalists. Catch it, heat it, eat it. Sounds like a plan.
There were recent reports of a ‘king crab’ invasion in Norway. I thought, what’s the problem? Melt some butter.
Imagine that! Eating fish. What a concept. What minds!
I remember the thread about that- Freepers were clamoring to just eat the dang things.
It's frustrating when 'experts' never seem to have any common sense. And that's what makes this thread refreshing- eating them as a control strategy.
One of Stalin's gifts that keep on giving, so they say. But yeah, if you can't get rid of them then pig out on crab.
Just don’t pick your teeth with the spines after your fine repast.
Since NOAA is preventing us from fishing for anything else down here in Florida, why not?
This is a formerly harmless agency gone bad. Or manipulated by the evil thing in the White House.
I had no idea they were edible. Usually the boxy-bodied fish are poisonous. I always knew about the spines.
Call in the jap fishing boats that those idiot whale lovers are chasing. The Japs can catch em and rid us of them.
Perhaps Florida and Louisiana can team up to host a Lion fish-Nutria surf and turf feast ;)
Bring in a few Cajuns today - blackened lionfish and hush puppies tonight!
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