Oh, the things I find!

Mark brought home an ice chest full of shrimp..fifty pounds of shrimp to be exact!  These all needed to be headed, peeled, washed and bagged for the freezer so Michael and I set to work.  Not that we mind doing this job but it really drags on after a bit.  We were happy that this time it was just the fifty pounds and not the hundred or so that he usually hauls into the kitchen!  The job is set up in sort of an assembly-line technique with Michael and I having predetermined chores.  He heads the shrimp..I peel. I wash the shrimp...he bags.  Then we both get busy and clean the kitchen from top to bottom to assure that no icky dead shrimp smell greets us the next day.  Mark, during this time, will do one or the other of the jobs..or sometimes runs errands that neither Michael nor I ever wish to do!  Anyway, today's shrimp purchase yielded more than just shrimp.  There was an assortment of strange and wonderful creatures from the Gulf waters that make this job a bit more interesting.  I normally just toss these aside without much thought but for some reason, today, I wanted to look at each and every critter in the bucket!  Most were the usual riffraff that gets hung up in the trawls but there were a few that caught my eye!

Mantis Shrimp found mixed in with the shrimp.

The first thing that Michael pulled out that was not a shrimp was none other than a Sea Mantis.  These are ugly-looking critters that remind me far too much of some monstrous RolyPoly or Pill Millipede!  Pill bugs usually do not scare anyone but one the size of your hand might just give the heebie-jeebies to the toughest of guys!  The Sea Mantis or Mantis Shrimp are usually only a few inches long but can grow up to a foot in length.  These guys must be quite powerful when they get this large.  They have claws that are used to maim and kill their prey and they have also been know to break aquarium glass with a single blow from this weapon!  I was reading that in Australia, they are known as "Thumb-splitters" since they can inflict quite the painful wound if not handled carefully!  My, oh, my!  I think those critters are best left in the water and not in my kitchen!  I always carefully flick even the dead ones to the side as they do give me the willies!

What was left to a Cutlassfish!

Close-up of the Cutlassfish's wicked teeth!

Then there was another vicious-looking critter!  This time..a fish!   A "pretty terrible looking" fish according to Michael. Since it had already lost most of its outer flesh, I started calling it a zombie fish! This was a fish about twelve inches in length but only maybe an inch in width at its widest point!  Called a Cutlassfish because of its appearance, it, too, could leave a nasty wound if you got in the way of its teeth!  They will not hesitate to use those teeth when threatened so caution must be taken when trying to handle these guys!  The Cutlassfish feed in an unusual position.  They hover in a "tail-down" position under their prey and attack from underneath! A lot of folks call these Ribbonfish and use them as bait to catch larger fish.  I think I will steer clear of them just because of those wicked teeth!

Goggle-eye Jack was just too cute!

Lastly, a critter caught my eye just because of its cuteness!  I thought this little fish was adorable!  Its name is just as adorable!  It goes by the name "Lookdown" or "Goggle-eye Jack"!  Now that just about explains the fish!  With its deeply sloped forehead the fish does indeed seem to look down!  I guess they better look down as they are bottom feeders that are often found around piers and docks.  There they feed upon shrimp or small fish.  This one was tiny but they can grow up to about three pounds and are considered to be a great tasting food fish!  Maybe if I caught one that was a couple of pounds I would be more apt to try it as food but with the tiny one being so cute...I would toss it back into the water!  There it could live, be happy and swim around just being plumb adorable!

These critters made cleaning the shrimp much more enjoyable and before long we had them all in the freezer just waiting to become Gumbo, fried shrimp po-boys or shrimp salad!  It is all well worth the effort!