with sauces, sautes and sushiSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Lionfish. It’s what’s for dinner.
Fighting a losing battle against the invasive, candy-striped aquarium fish that is the Western Hemisphere’s worst oceanic menace, conservationists, tour operators and chefs are out to slow their spread the only way they know how: finding and catching them fast and then turning them into batter-fried, roasted and grilled delectables.
“The goal is to eat it out of existence,” said U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration outreach specialist Renata Lana, who is organizing a five-city tasting tour.
The tropical native of the Indian and Pacific oceans already has colonized large swaths of the Eastern Seaboard, the Caribbean and recently the Gulf of Mexico and threatens to wreak ecological chaos as far away as South America.
Scientists say local predators such as sharks are put off by the lionfish’s poisonous spines and have shown little appetite for lionfish, leaving them free to multiply and fatten themselves on a smorgasbord of smaller swimmers.
The lionfish has venom only in its spines. Once those are sliced away or burned off with a torch, the meaty filets are ready to fry.
Chefs say lionfish has a mild, versatile flavor that lends itself to everything from a basic saute to marinated dishes, such as ceviche. It can be dried into lionfish jerky or served raw on sticky rice as sushi.
