# How to clean a shark



## sandman770

This post was on another forum a couple years ago and offers the best method I've seen to dress out a shark on a boat and why it needs done to preserve the quality of the flesh.



"Blacktip, bull, and lemon shark are part of our regular diet on Anegada. We have cleaned and eaten more of them than I can count. As far as meat quality: blacktip ranks #1, followed closely by bull, with lemon lagging pretty far behind.

The handling of the shark right after the catch is very important. Sharks do not urinate. Instead, they excrete nitrogenous wastes as urea, which is stored in their in the blood, and the nitrogenous wastes are expelled trough their skin. When a shark dies, the urea in their blood and flesh deteriorates into ammonia, which is why shark meat often tastes and smells of ammonia.

When I said lemon sharks lag pretty far behind, it is because they seem to have much higher content of urea (and, personally, I think that is why their skin has a yellowish color). They are misnamed, should be called piss sharks. Even so, I clean and process them so that they are perfectly edible.

Anyway, after landing a shark, I cut the tail off as soon as possible so that the fish will pump out as much blood as possible. 

As soon as possible after that (meaning when I can safely handle without being bitten), I beach-clean them by cutting away the head and belly. To beach-clean, I take the tip of my boning knife and make a puncture in the center of the head, ahead of the gills, with the knife sideways so that the blade is facing one side or the other. The correct spot for the puncture is where the harder part of the head sort of softens - I feel for the spot with my hand. From the puncture, I continue the cut to one side, angling back across the top of the gills, then down just behind the gills toward the pectoral fins. It is easy to detect when the cut enters the abdominal area - the flesh surrounding it is quite thin. As I enter the abdominal area, I try to avoid cutting much deeper than the belly flesh so that I don't puncture the internal organs. It won't hurt the finished meat if I do - it just makes a bigger mess to clean up. As I am cutting into the belly flesh, I angle the cut toward the rear above the pectoral fins and continue the cut along the side, above the pelvic fins straight back to the end of the abdominal cavity, coming to the shark's centerline behind the vent and ahead of the anal fin.

I then go back to the head, where I made the puncture, and cut away the other side in the same way. When this is done, the head, belly, and organs come away in one big piece leaving the keeper piece - the upper rear torso with flesh and skin. I often ice or freeze the torso and fillet it out later."


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## GallantReflex

Thanks for the tips. I plan on trying that soon. Been wanting to know more.


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## RichardFL

*thanks*

And does anyone know if there are any limits on quantity,size,type?If anyone knows off hand that would be great to safe the time it would take to research. Thanks


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## SouthAlabamaSlayer

Check out your state's fish and game website. Also, put the meat in saltwater after you get home to purge it of any leftover urea.


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