Posted by Trev Napier on 5/7/2007, 4:36 pm, in reply to "Big catch today"
GARY, looked in the archives and found this..might be of some help
The spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) is the species of shark most commonly eaten, but care must be taken to prevent bacterial decomposition. The enzyme urease produced by these sharks splits the urea to ammonia, producing off-odors and - flavours. A high percentage of urea is normally retained by elasmobranchs and serves important osmotic functions. In preparing the flesh it is best to make fillets and soak them in salt water to leach out the urea. Once this is accomplished the tissue can be prepared normally. Other methods require cooking the tissue in acetic, citric or lactic acids to neutralize the ammonia.