sandsharks/dogfish
 

I mentioned in another post I was at the Chatham fish pier this week. Over the past several years I've stopped by a number of times and when the commercial guys unload, the fist bins are full of what looks like sand sharks or I guess maybe non-spiny dogfish. So I have a few questions about that. I had read in other posts that to eat them you need to bleed or skin them soon after catching or they go bad because [rumor has it] they pee through their skin. So if they're unhooked and thrown in a bin as is and it takes a while to get back to the dock aren't they going bad the whole ride in? Next question, they all seem to be about the same size give or take a couple inches. Hardly any really bigger or smaller, boat after boat after boat. Is there just one size they take back? Or why is it such a uniform catch? And if anyone knows, what happens to them from Chatham? Do they end up in the fried fish platter at the local restaurant or are they exported somewhere?

I have seen the same in Scituate, I think they go to England for fish and chips dinner.

I wish they'd kill more of those spiny dogfish, there seems to be no shortage of them at all in most places around here.

slip got it right. They end up in England in fish & chips platters. They have nearly wiped them out over on the other side of the Atlantic.

Last summer, I fed some smooth dogfish to some in-laws. I bled and gutted it immediately so that when I arrived the next morning all I had were the fillets. Soaked them in milk for a couple hours and fried it up for dinner. It was kind of bland, but it was white meat. They devoured it. I prefer fried fluke though, it don't even compare.