"Spiced" Mahi--Who Needs to Know?

By Jon Kitchen (shown with son Austin)

On July 5, 2008, Dan and Chris Ennis invited my son Austin and me along on a trolling trip. Departing from Indian River, we ran to Massey’s Canyon, we trolled to the Chicken Bone, and then on to the Ham Bone. By the time we made it back to Massey’s, three mahi had been boated. Back at the dock, Dan and Chris encouraged Austin to take the fish home and clean them. This made Austin’s day!

Once the fillets were extracted and skinned, I had the job of clean-up for final packaging. I did not make a big deal in front of my family, but something did not look right. There were specks in the meat, similar to spices.....but they moved. I spent hours removing parasites from the meat. I vacuum sealed the fillets and refrigerated them.

The next day I contact the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife. After asking my question to a few different folks, I was placed in touch with “The Man”. This tenured fellow picked up the telephone. He asked where we had caught the mahi and what the parasites looked like. He told me that lemon juice, lime juice, or cooking the meat would solve my issue. He also assured me that the meat was safe to eat. He even told me to deliver the fillets to his house for dinner that evening, if I planned to waste them.

Since I had planned to use all of his remedies anyway, I marinated and cooked the fish for my family. While at the dinner table, I left out the part about the “SPICE.” We are all still here and we all still eat mahi! How did Dan and Chris know to give those fish away?