Preserving fish head HELP

[dazza]

Hi all,
awhile ago there was a thread about removing the meat from a fish head and preserving the skull. after christmas i got a 24.5kg spaniard, i kept the head. does onyone remember the thread, i have looked but cant find it, or point me in the right direction
cheers
dazza

[Maria]

Mate I do shark jaws up whenever I get a decent one, but they're a tad different to fish heads. I did try boiling a wahoo skull years ago. It did get rid of all the skin and flesh around the bones, but unfortunately it also destroyed the tissue and ligaments holding everything together so I ended up with a handful of bones with no idea which was what. The bones also went a horrible yellow colour and stunk to high heaven, so I'd recommend not doing that.

Cheers

[MulletMan]

Find a good ants nest - preferably meat ants - and it will be eaten clean in a few days!

[onerabbit]

Maria ,

Very interested as to how you do your jaws??

I've tried drying flatty heads, my grand-dad had a pile nailed to a tree, but they still smell in rainy weather. Next one I'm going to inject formaldehyde into the flesh & set it like a rock.

Muzz

[wayne_cook]

formaldehyde mixed with distalled water works but be careful nasty side effects.

[DICER]

do not mix formaldehyde with seawater - it produces a strong carcinogen

mix with fresh water as described above

[Maria]

Shark jaws are completely different to fish jaws as it's not actually bone, it's all cartillidge. Quite a time consuming process but they always come up nice and never smell.

[onerabbit]

Ok ,

Would you mind telling me the process?? I'm quite interested as to how to do it properly????

Also, whats the go with formadehyde?? as in carcinogens? just so I know?
Thanks guys,

Muzz

[scuttlebutt]

I've done a few jaws from spaniards, jacks and coral trout. I boil them, but I think the trick is don't boil them too fast. Get the water so it just starts bubbling. Keep an eye on them and after a few minutes the jaws will slide out of the head.

The top and bottom jaw will seperate, I don't know any way around that. Each jaw is connected in the middle with cartlidge though and be careful not to break it. Once the jaw is out and you've wiped off the meat, just place them with teeth down on a flat surface and let them dry.

The cartlidge will dry and harden like a rock and does not smell. If you do break the cartlidge, just use two part epoxy to glue the jaws back together. I'll post up a couple of pictures

cheers,

steve

[scuttlebutt]

spaniard

[scuttlebutt]

trout

[scuttlebutt]

jack