Wth is in my ling cod meat???

[trophyhunt]

I’m glad the wife isn’t here to see this or she’d throw it away!  But what the heck is this? I’ve cleaned several bottom fish, seen worms, no big deal, but this is new!!

[millerwheeler]

I’m glad the wife isn’t here to see this or she’d throw it away!  But what the heck is this? I’ve cleaned several bottom fish, seen worms, no big deal, but this is new!!

Still looks like worms too  me

[MADMAX]

I remember the first time wife saw worms
Uh those are worms hun
Remember the little veins you see sometimes in a chunk of fillet
Yea
Fish don’t have veins
Don’t bring any more like that home
Oh ok

[trophyhunt]

I remember the first time wife saw worms
Uh those are worms hun
Remember the little veins you see sometimes in a chunk of fillet
Yea
Fish don’t have veins
Don’t bring any more like that home
Oh ok

lol, yeah my neighbor and I just keep the whole worm thing to our selves! I’ve never seen nasty azz worms like that though!!!  I’ll be thinking of that when we have ling now! 

[Stein]

95% of salmon have parasites.  If it’s in the ocean the only question is whether they are big enough to see or the small ones.

Those look pretty freaky, I’ll give you that.  Almost big enough to serve on their own as an appetizer.


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[trophyhunt]

 

[Ironhead]

The rule is... If you cant see the parasite its ok to eat.  If you can see the parasite its friggin gross, and nobody in their right mind would eat it.

[Skillet]

I've seen a lot of parasites in fish flesh, but never anything like that.  When we cut the ling for portions we cut it really high off the belly, to avoid the wormy meat. Tough on yields, but ling bellies are particularly bad for some reason.

95% of salmon have parasites.  If it’s in the ocean the only question is whether they are big enough to see or the small ones.

If you count sea lice, I'd say right about 100% of salmon have parasites.  But if you're talking parasites in the flesh, I haven't seen anything close to 95% mentioned anywhere. Genuinely interested - is there a source of info you can point me to?  Or is this something you've seen in the fish you've encountered?

Proper freezing or cooking kills em all, no matter the frequency. Best to assume they all have a parasite of some sort and play it safe. For cooking it, I feel like you have to nearly ruin the fish to cook it enough to kill all potential parasites. I believe 145F is the standard.  A decent temp if you hit it just right, but overdo it just by a little and the fish can get dry.

For freezing,  the FDA consensus is to hold it at -31F for 15 hours. Not possible in home freezers, so you should store your home-packed fish at -4F for 7 days (that's 7 days after the core temp has gotten down to -4F, not from the time you put it in the freezer). After that, it's sashimi safe. Thaw it out and eat it raw, do a ceviche, poke, whatever you want.  All good.

Pro tip- the faster you can get it frozen, the better the quality.  Spread it out in your freezer, vac pack in single filet thicknesses, and make sure there is air flow around the fish if at all possible to help it freeze faster.

Just some things I've learned over the years.

Nice fish trophyhunt, enjoy!   

[Buckhunter24]

The rule is... If you cant see the parasite its ok to eat.  If you can see the parasite its friggin gross, and nobody in their right mind would eat it.

Same boat I'm in those things churn my stomach. There was a picture of a fish from riffe lake a few years ago thats still burned in my brain.

[GASoline71]

Same boat I'm in those things churn my stomach. There was a picture of a fish from riffe lake a few years ago thats still burned in my brain.

First time we opened up a fish from Riffe and saw it's belly packed full of worms, we didn't even clean the rest of our catch... We tossed 'em.     The next day I called the region biologist and asked what the deal was with worms in the fish at Riffe, and he told me that the Riffe fish have always had a few worms in them.  When I told him one of our fish had a belly cavity packed with worms, he said it was a rare occasion but the fish would still be safe to eat.  I was all... no way, you eat it then.  Haven't fished Riffe since... 

Gary

[duckmen1]

Same boat I'm in those things churn my stomach. There was a picture of a fish from riffe lake a few years ago thats still burned in my brain.

First time we opened up a fish from Riffe and saw it's belly packed full of worms, we didn't even clean the rest of our catch... We tossed 'em.     The next day I called the region biologist and asked what the deal was with worms in the fish at Riffe, and he told me that the Riffe fish have always had a few worms in them.  When I told him one of our fish had a belly cavity packed with worms, he said it was a rare occasion but the fish would still be safe to eat.  I was all... no way, you eat it then.  Haven't fished Riffe since... 

Gary

Riffe was a fun fishery but I do agree. Saw it one time and it was my last. I may go catch them but if anything turns you into a catch and release fisherman it will be that. Will never keep any again from there.

[WapitiTalk1]

Gross.

[GWP]

After you cook them, it is all protein. Ever hold a light under fish fillet from the market? Those ‘odd’ looking ‘spots’ in the meat? Yup.
You eat more of them than you know. One more reason not to eat raw fish. Or any raw meat for that matter. But hey, what is a few parasites between friends? Right?
 

[Flaming Antler Outdoors]

Red Snapper bellies are loaded   All fish have them, we usually put the filet up against a window prior to cooking to see thru it and make sure it doesn't have any.

[trophyhunt]

I’m used to seeing the worms, just never seen anything like this!!  I’ll be inspecting our lings extra good before we cook it. 

[NRA4LIFE]

I've seen this a few times in Rockfish we caught in the summertime out of Westport.  No problems in the fish we got in May between halibut days out of Neah Bay or La Push.  And I'm with many of you, that is disgusting.  We've probably put 1000 or more salmon in our boats out of the sound and I'm guessing nearly every single one of them had lice.  Especially humpies.  Those don't seem to bother me.

[Stein]

I've seen a lot of parasites in fish flesh, but never anything like that.  When we cut the ling for portions we cut it really high off the belly, to avoid the wormy meat. Tough on yields, but ling bellies are particularly bad for some reason.

95% of salmon have parasites.  If it’s in the ocean the only question is whether they are big enough to see or the small ones.

If you count sea lice, I'd say right about 100% of salmon have parasites.  But if you're talking parasites in the flesh, I haven't seen anything close to 95% mentioned anywhere. Genuinely interested - is there a source of info you can point me to?  Or is this something you've seen in the fish you've encountered?

Proper freezing or cooking kills em all, no matter the frequency. Best to assume they all have a parasite of some sort and play it safe. For cooking it, I feel like you have to nearly ruin the fish to cook it enough to kill all potential parasites. I believe 145F is the standard.  A decent temp if you hit it just right, but overdo it just by a little and the fish can get dry.

For freezing,  the FDA consensus is to hold it at -31F for 15 hours. Not possible in home freezers, so you should store your home-packed fish at -4F for 7 days (that's 7 days after the core temp has gotten down to -4F, not from the time you put it in the freezer). After that, it's sashimi safe. Thaw it out and eat it raw, do a ceviche, poke, whatever you want.  All good.

Pro tip- the faster you can get it frozen, the better the quality.  Spread it out in your freezer, vac pack in single filet thicknesses, and make sure there is air flow around the fish if at all possible to help it freeze faster.

Just some things I've learned over the years.

Nice fish trophyhunt, enjoy!   

Meateater episode, they had some big timey parasite guy on.  Really interesting info, I didn’t know all sushi salmon was froze.  It’s one of the fish never safe to eat raw without freezing.

That said, I’m still standing but freeze mine now.  Apparently it’s not super dangerous, more of a thing you just want to avoid.  If I remember right, they can’t live long term in people but can be pretty unpleasant.

I guess each fish has parasites unique to that species.  Not many can live in people so you either freeze it all or really know what you are doing.


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[Sandberm]

Only freshwater fish I've noticed parasites in the meat were fall caught trout out of Bumping lake. If i found em', i flicked them out and cooked normally. I figured the cooking process killed what i didn't get out.

I suppose if I found a whole gut full I would pause and think about it. Some sort of mini alien head popping out would have me doing a ritual burning.

[Jake Dogfish]

Flavor pockets.