Large breaksea flesh

Hey fellas 

Looking to put my mind at ease. Yesterday it was the second time that I've caught a 40+cm orangey coloured breaksea from roughly 35m. Both times I've seen the following and I'm sure I've read somewhere it's a result of barotrauma and nothing to worry about.

Immediately after the fish is landed it appeared that multiple little things were moving up the scales. When you scrape one off it just appears to be a scale. It won't move on the knife. But when you're looking at it happen it's almost like they're sliding up/across the belly of the fish. Then within around 30-40 seconds the white flesh under the gill plate appears 'puffy'. 

When filleting, the fillets look as you would expect but when comparing to baldie or dhu fillets they're more 'slimy'. There's no peculiar smell and smells exactly as you'd expect. 

Is it a trait of break sea that the flesh is 'slimy'? Or should I be suss?

Cheers

Steve 
 

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sunshine's picture

Posts: 2554

Date Joined: 03/03/09

Best eating fish imo

Sun, 2023-06-04 17:21

 Would eat them in preference to Most southern species .....

striker's picture

Posts: 222

Date Joined: 26/09/14

Spike

Sun, 2023-06-04 18:50

Gut ice fillet eat mate never had any issues with black arse except size sometimes

rob90's picture

Posts: 1522

Date Joined: 06/02/13

 Good fish! I've known them

Sun, 2023-06-04 19:32

 Good fish! I've known them to always do that strange scale thing from barotrauma. They are also a bitch to scale completely if trying to cook whole. I've noticed some lager ones to be greasy/fatty between skin and flesh when skinning

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 Hi my name is rob............. and I'm a........... fishaholic

Posts: 108

Date Joined: 27/07/16

Yes, I've always found the

Sun, 2023-06-04 19:56

Yes, I've always found the Breaksea flesh to be a bit more slimy then other species and also find the the flesh can be a bit more firmer also.

Pete F's picture

Posts: 310

Date Joined: 07/01/18

It is bad give it to me I

Mon, 2023-06-05 07:03

It is bad give it to me I will look after it.  Coral trout of the south. 

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 Cheers

sstevee's picture

Posts: 466

Date Joined: 15/11/11

 Thanks fellas. Fillets have

Mon, 2023-06-05 16:42

 Thanks fellas. Fillets have been vac'd and frozen ready for a good nights dinner! 

sea-kem's picture

Posts: 14853

Date Joined: 30/11/09

 Mate I only ever fillet and

Mon, 2023-06-05 17:10

 Mate I only ever fillet and scale, pan fried with the skin on crispy they are insanely good. 

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Love the West!

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Date Joined: 21/05/12

best way for most fish

Tue, 2023-06-06 12:42

best way for most fish

sea-kem's picture

Posts: 14853

Date Joined: 30/11/09

 True true 

Tue, 2023-06-06 18:13

 True true 

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Love the West!

Posts: 242

Date Joined: 27/08/11

 It's a cod species and in my

Mon, 2023-06-05 18:05

 It's a cod species and in my experience they all have a mushy/sliminess to the flesh... malabars, yellow spots/estuary, etc. however they all taste great when cooked.

if you skin them, and as others mention the bigger ones have a fatty layer between skin and flesh, it makes great for shallow frying in butter with the scales on.