Have fish, will fillet

those babies are scaled!

Sushi!

Darry, wow! I didn't realize. Haven't gotten my hands on them yet. My fish awaits me at fishfriend's house. Husband-of-fishfriend took the above picture.

And fishfriend: Sushi not looking so good now, huh?

Sadly, last night fishfriend discovered our fish are rather wormy. I know fish have worms, but I'm not sure I'm equipped to deal with them myself. Emotionally, I mean. Ew.

uh, how did you spy said worms? i didn't see worms, but maybe i'm not looking. maybe i shouldn't be looking.

Don't look.
My CSF partner just said she spotted them and picked them out. And that the fish was delicious!

I did not see any worms - although my husband did the filleting. Ugh. Just had some chowder for lunch which derived from the fish stock (made with the heads and bones and rendered meat).... so delicious. This is going to be a very good thing!

For anyone wondering, here's some info on the worms from the CSF folks:

We've heard from a couple of other folks about this, and, frankly, are surprised we haven't heard this from more people as worms are a normal occurrence in fish just as insects are to fruits and vegetables. Fish become affected when they eat some small crustaceans. You don't see them on fish you get from supermarkets, etc. because by the time they get there they've either already been removed or the freezing and storage process has killed the worms. So in an odd way, the worms are a sign that you are getting fresh fish (much like the worms on the broccoli I pick from my garden or the poop on the eggs I get from our mail carrier who raises chickens!).

Thorough cooking of fish (to an internal temperature or 140’F- fish will flake when poked with a fork and has lost its translucent color) renders these parasites totally harmless. Other methods to do this include hard-salting fish (curing) or freezing for 24 hours.

If you want to remove worms, start by holding your fillet up to a light source (sun, light bulb.) This is called candling. In cod or monkfish worms will look like dark round spots, size of 1/4" button. In flat fish they appear as white spots.

To remove, insert the point of knife at the spot and dig out the worm. Chefs often keep a pair of needle nose pliers in the kitchen for this purpose. Most worms tend to reside around the stomach part of the fillet.

Hope this sets your mind at ease. Not sure how often you'll see them as it all depends on what the fish being caught has been eating at the time.