How to Fillet a Lionfish
Channel: FWCnotinuse
Date: 23/10/2013

In order to prepare for lionfish tasting at the Lionfish Summit, about 70 pounds of these invasive fish were filleted. Want to know how to fillet one yourself? Watch as one of these tasty fish are prepared for cooking. The gulls screeching in the background are eager to taste lionfish as well!

Filleting a lionfish is similar to filleting any other type of fish with the exception of using caution to avoid the spines located along the dorsal, pelvic and anal fins. If you put the fish on its side, you can easily hold the fish by the bony gill plates without getting stuck with a venomous spine. Another option is to wear puncture-resistant gloves. Some also choose to cut the spines off prior to filleting. Use care when doing this as the venomous glandular tissue located within the grooves of the spines are present even at the base of the spine. Once you've gotten the spines under control, fillet like you would any other fish, making incisions just behind the spines on the head down to the belly, down the back of the fish near the dorsal spines and along the bottom of the fish, joining the three cuts together. The skin can be peeled off from the cut closest to the head, or you can continue to cut the filet away from the body and then cut the filet from the skin after it has been removed from the body.