Sea hare fish: what is useful, how to cook it deliciously. What are chimera fish? sea rabbit

Many people are not familiar with this sea fish like a hare fish. If you are interested in knowing what this is sea creature, then this article is for you. We will discuss whether there are benefits from this fish. We will also find out whether it poses any harm to the human body.

To see this fish in full, you need to consult a reference book. The point is that she is not sold head on. You can only purchase fragments of its fish body, so to speak. They are sold in purified form. Therefore, it is very difficult to understand what kind of fish it is in its original form. There is a lot of deception on fish counters. Since the hare fish is often passed off as a simple hake or pollock. The cod-like little fish are similar to our marine species.

What is hare fish?

This fish is cartilaginous. She doesn't have a bubble. Therefore, in order to stay afloat, she constantly needs to be on the move. Like the shark, this fish will otherwise simply fall to the seabed. Hare is prepared like any other fish. It needs to be salted, then coated with flour or batter, and then fried in a hot frying pan.

Some sources indicate that this fish emits an unpleasant odor. But that's not true. Although the smell of hare is not as pleasant as the smell of cod, it does not stink obnoxiously. The taste of the finished fish is simply amazing. Regular fish has bones, but this one has cartilage. Thanks to this structure, fish meat is very easy to separate using cutlery.

Benefits and harms

Distrust of our fish is caused by the fact that it is considered an exotic product, and many people know absolutely nothing about it. In fact, hare fish meat is very nutritious and juicy. This fish was not considered suitable for consumption until the twentieth century. Now it is a rare delicacy in many expensive restaurants around the world.

She's very helpful. It contains quite a lot of protein, which is easily and quickly absorbed by the human body. It also contains a lot of vitamins such as A, E, and D. Moreover, this fish is filled with useful minerals. Since fish contains large number fatty acids, its meat is considered particularly nutritious. The calorie content of fish is such that per hundred grams of its meat there are one hundred and sixteen kcal.

Is there any harm from eating this fish? You can only suffer if you are personally intolerant to this marine product. Our hare also has a poisonous fin. This is the top fin. Because of this, fish carcasses should be separated with extreme caution. The fish is quite oily. It should not be abused.

More information

The fish has expressive eyes. Apparently, this is the reason that she was given such a name as a hare. But she is nothing more like an ordinary hare. Because the fish lead unusual image life, they are sometimes called the rats of the seas. They feed on solid foods such as shellfish or crayfish. The fish's jaws are very powerful, so fishermen are very careful with this fish. The hare lays eggs. Scandinavians eat these eggs.

The price issue is not certain. The cost of fish fluctuates. In general, hare fish costs a little more than regular cod. But you won’t find our fish in every store. More chances to find this delicacy in special stores exotic marine products. The hare fish is also of the aquarium type. It is decorative and is not consumed as food. This kind of fish is very expensive.

It is believed that sellers sell fish much higher than the stated price. They can invent their own names for hare fish to show it as rarer and expensive fish. Some even sell tasteless fish with tough meat, passing it off as a chimera. It is easy to fall for such deception.

The fact that the fish has a rather funny nickname. This suggests that it is not extremely rare. Abroad, it is found in many restaurants. You should not be afraid and believe all the nonsense about hare fish that you can find in various sources. This fish is healthy, tasty, and not very expensive.

If you have a chance to try the meat of this fish, do not deny yourself this pleasure. Be sure to try this one. Its taste is reminiscent of shark meat. Therefore, not everyone will like it as a main course. So, now you know what hare fish is. You know why it is useful and whether it can be dangerous. You have everything necessary information about our exotic fish. You know that hare fish can be a great addition to your overall diet.

Recipe (video)

The harefish is a close relative of the shark and stingray. It's delicious and healthy fish. It contains a large amount of vitamins, amino acids and easily digestible protein. In our country it can only be purchased frozen. It is recommended to buy a whole carcass rather than ready-made fillets. Despite the large number of beneficial properties, its use can be harmful to human health.

Close relative sharks have many names, one of them is hare fish

General description

Hare fish, chimera, sea rabbit- these are names of the same creature. The peculiarity of this fish is the absence of a bladder, therefore, in order to constantly stay afloat, it must always move, otherwise it will simply lie on the bottom. Sea rabbit is widely used in cooking. It is prepared in the same way as any other fish.

The fish is unusual in addition to its appearance due to the fact that she does not have a bladder and the entire skeleton consists of cartilage

The chimera has large expressive eyes and a small mouth. There are 4 beak-shaped dental plates on the upper part of the jaw, and only 2 on the lower part. The body is elongated, the thinnest part is the back part. The fins are quite large. The skeleton is not made of bones, but of cartilage.

Because of its lifestyle, the chimera is called the rat of the seas. This is explained by the fact that it feeds only on solid food, such as shellfish or crayfish.

There is a system of sensory channels on the head. The skin is soft with rudimentary spines. sea creature has a dark brown color with a reddish tint. There may be spots on the sides, the ventral side is lighter than the whole body. An adult can grow up to 1.5 m in length. Weight Limit fish is 2.5 kg.

It is almost impossible to purchase a whole sea rabbit on the market. It is cut up and sold in parts. Before buying, it is advisable to look at a photo of how it should look, otherwise you risk purchasing cod or hake at the price of a chimera.

Species and habitat

Distribution area of chimeras- The Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as the Barents Sea. There are 3 varieties in total. The fish with a plow-shaped head belongs to the family Callorhynchidae. She can be found in coastal zone. This species is distinguished by its snout unusual shape, so fish easily find shellfish on the sandy bottom.

The chimera may be one of three families, differing only in head shape

The blunt-nosed species belongs to the family Chimaeridae. It lives at a depth of up to 500 m, has sensitive eyes, so it quickly notices smaller inhabitants that suit it as food.

The long-nosed chimera from the family Rhinochimaeridae can be found on quite great depth. It is distinguished by its sensitive and elongated snout, so it can find food even in the darkest waters.

Beneficial properties and harm

Fish sea hare is a rather exotic product, so before eating it you need to familiarize yourself not only with beneficial properties, but also a potential danger.

Useful properties:

a large amount of protein, which is quickly absorbed by the body;
meat is low-calorie, so cooked fish quickly satisfies hunger without creating additional stress on the heart and kidneys;
content of vitamins D, A and E, which help eliminate toxins;
high content of fatty acids, which remove cholesterol from the body.

The meat of this fish has various beneficial properties, but eating improperly prepared sea rabbit can also be harmful to human health.

Dishes made from such a product can be used to prevent the development of hypertension and atherosclerosis.

The chimera has a poisonous fin and may cause an allergic reaction

Despite the large number of positive properties, hare fish can cause harm to the body. Before purchasing and preparing a chimera, you need to pay attention for the following details:

The sea rabbit has a poisonous fin. It is located on the top of the carcass. When cutting fish, you need to be very careful or buy carcasses without the dangerous fin.
The fish is quite oily. Eating it frequently can lead to excess weight gain.
An exotic product may cause allergic reaction. Before eating, you must make sure there are no allergies. To do this, you need to try a small piece and monitor the body’s reaction.

In our latitudes, such fish is sold only frozen, so there is a risk of buying a product that has already been frozen several times. Frequent freezing not only kills useful substances, but also negatively affects the taste.

Cooking recipes

There is no single price for this fish, but it will definitely cost more than regular cod. You can’t find it in every store, as it is a rather exotic product. There are decorative versions of sea rabbits that cannot be eaten. Chimera is not rare fish. Quite often it can be found on the menu of European restaurants. There are a lot of myths about what meat is tasteless and hard. However, this is not the case

Cooking recipes There is a lot of this delicacy. The easiest option is to bake in the oven. For 0.5 kg of frozen fish you will need 2 tbsp. l. olive oil, 1 tsp. curry, carrots, cucumber, olives, salt and pepper. A mixture is prepared based on curry, pepper and salt, which will be used to rub the meat. Next, you need to wrap it in foil and put it in the oven for half an hour. After cooking, the dish must be kept in foil for 10 minutes.

There are a huge number of recipes for cooking sea rabbit, but most of them can be mastered by anyone who has ever cooked regular fish

No less tasty is recipe for sea rabbit in pomegranate sauce. For 1 kg of chimera you will need 1 tbsp. vegetable broth and the same amount of pomegranate juice. For cooking you also need garlic, onions, vegetable oil, nuts, tomato paste, salt and flour.

The fish is cleaned, cut into pieces, which are then rolled in flour and fried. Nuts, onions, peppers and garlic are mixed with juice and broth. Tomato paste is added to the resulting mass. The sauce is prepared over low heat, after boiling, fish is placed in it and simmered for 10 minutes. The best side dish for such a dish is boiled rice.

In terms of characteristics, sea rabbit fish is not quite similar to ordinary fish, but it is prepared in the same way as hake or cod. It is important that the chimera is fresh, otherwise taste qualities dishes will be lost.

How different and unusual fish exist in nature, and what names have not been invented for them! For example, the chimera fish: the very name of this animal evokes not the most pleasant associations. And if you look at this inhabitant depths of the sea, then opinions may be divided. Some see a very cute and cute fish that looks like a soaring bird, while others see a monster. So who is she really, this mysterious sea dweller, which is also called by another strange name - sea hare fish.

Very close relatives of the chimera are and: they are all cartilaginous fish and have a backbone made of cartilage tissue. Look at the photo of the chimera fish and try to find common features with sharks!

All the most interesting things about chimeras

When the name chimera is mentioned, it does not mean that there is only one single species. The genus Chimaera (lat. Chimaera) unites 6 species, of which the most famous is the European chimera (lat. Chimaera monstrosa) from the eastern Atlantic. There is a Cuban chimera (Chimaera cubana), which was initially mistaken for a European one, but was later identified as an independent species. It lives off the coast of Cuba at a depth of 400-500 meters. Other species of the genus Chimera are known from the waters of the eastern regions Pacific Ocean(Philippine Islands, Yellow Sea and Japanese Islands).

Place of chimeras in the fish system

The genus Chimera, of which the European chimera is a representative, is included in the family Chimaeridae, in which there is another genus with species that differ from the genus Chimera in the shape of the caudal fin.

All fish of the Chimaera family have a blunt snout. This is an important difference from other families of the Chimaeriformes order, including the family. Nosed chimeras with a very elongated snout and a pointed one at the end. And the third family is the proboscis-snouted chimeras (Callorhynchaceae). They are distinguished by the elongated and bent down and back of the front end of the snout.

Below, in the photo, chimera fish are depicted in drawings, and you can see the differences in the structure of the snout in representatives of each family, which were mentioned above.

Representatives of the order Chimera: 1 - fam. Chimaeras; 2 - sem. Proboscis snouts (Callorhynchaceae) and fam. Nosed chimeras.

As already mentioned at the beginning of the article, the chimera fish is cartilaginous, and accordingly, belongs to the class “Cartilaginous fish,” which has two subclasses. Having a lot in common in the internal and external structure with elasmobranchs (sharks and rays), chimeras differ from them in that their upper jaw is completely fused with the skull. Therefore, they are classified into the subclass Whole-headed or Joint-skulled.

Appearance of chimaeras

All chimaeras have characteristic shape body: valval, slightly compressed laterally and very thin towards the tail. This is clearly visible in the photo of the sea hare fish (European chimera).

Other features of the appearance of chimera representatives:

There are two fins on the back, the first is tall and short, having a powerful spike in front, which together with it, if necessary, fits into a special groove in the back. The second is long and can stretch all the way to the base of the caudal fin and does not fold.
The caudal fin is often shaped like a long cord.
The pectoral fins are very well developed and each of them is shaped like a fan.
The pelvic fins are smaller than the pectoral fins and are located next to the anus, being pushed back.
At the base, all paired fins are equipped with fleshy blades, thin and flexible.
The lower mouth (lower) of chimeras has a characteristic three-lobed upper lip.
The gill openings located on the sides of the head are covered by a fold of skin supported by finger-like cartilages.
The naked body, devoid of placoid scales, is covered a large number mucus.

Spine in the first dorsal fin of a European chimera.

European chimeras - beauties or beasts?

The European chimera has the Latin name Chimaera monstrosa, which evokes associations with some kind of monster. This fish has many names, one of the names that the chimera fish bears is the hare. This may be due to the large, slightly elongated pectoral fins and huge eyes. It is also called sea rabbit fish, apparently for the same reasons.

And among the Norwegians, the chimera is a royal fish. It is called so because of the thin bony growth curved backwards, which is located between the eyes of males.

A stylized image of a male chimera with a bony growth between its eyes.

The body length of the European chimera can be up to one or one and a half meters, and its tail is very long and thin, so another name has been assigned to it - the sea rat.

What color is the chimera?

Rudimentary spines are sometimes found on the bare skin of the European chimera. However, the skin looks smooth and soft and has a characteristic color:

the back is in dark brown and golden shades in combination with brown and whitish, a dark brown stripe stretches along the upper part of the back;
the ventral side of the body is light;
on the back of the long dorsal fin, as well as on the tail and anus, a blackish-brown edging is noticeable.

Completes the color image of the chimera green the pupil against the background of the white iris of her huge eyes.

European chimera, photo by Roman Fedortsov, Murmansk, @rfedortsov_official_account

Distribution, lifestyle and movement

European chimera fish tropical waters does not occur. Its range is the eastern part Atlantic Ocean:

IN northern waters– from the Strait of Gibraltar ( coastal waters Morocco) to the island of Iceland and the Scandinavian Peninsula with entry into the Barents Sea.
Southern waters - near the coast of southern Africa (this information requires confirmation).

The sea hare fish spends most of its life at the bottom, so ichthyologists classify it as a bathydimersal (bottom deep-sea) fish. After all, the depth at which it can be found is from 40 to 1400 meters. But most often this species lives at relatively shallow depths: two hundred to five hundred meters (in the northernmost part of its range) and three hundred fifty to seven hundred meters (in the waters off the coast of Morocco). By winter it comes to coastal waters, where off the coast of Norway (where the depth is from 90 to 180 meters) a number of individuals can be caught by trawls.

These fish are quite gentle and do not resist at all when caught. Once removed from the water, they die very quickly. Placed in an aquarium, they do not survive well.

Method of transportation

The chimera or sea rabbit fish is not a fast and high-speed swimmer, and it does not need it. See how gracefully she moves with the eel-like curve of her hindquarters and tail and the undulating strokes of her large pectoral fins, resembling wings. The pelvic fins are also involved in ensuring the swimming of the fish; they are located horizontally and act as movement stabilizers.

Being at the bottom, chimeras can “stand” on the ground, resting on almost all of their fins: the pectoral and ventral fins serve as four limbs, and the tail serves as additional support.

Nutrition issue

This part of the article is devoted to two questions:

what does sea rabbit fish eat?
Is it possible to eat chimera fish, that is, sea rabbit?

The diet of chimeras consists mainly of benthic invertebrates. Among them are mollusks, crustaceans (mainly crabs), echinoderms ( sea urchins, brittle stars). Small fish were only occasionally found in their stomachs. When examining the contents digestive tract chimeras, it was discovered that they do not swallow food whole, but bite off small pieces of prey or crush it with strong dental plates.

Do people eat chimeras?

So, is it possible to eat chimera fish? There is no definitive answer to this question. Fishing for chimaeras is carried out off the Pacific coast of the United States; they are caught in Chile and Argentina, as well as in the waters of New Zealand and China. The volume of production is especially large in New Zealand, where representatives of the family Callorhynchidae (proboscis-snouted chimeras) are caught.

Only fresh callorhynchus meat, which has excellent taste, is suitable for food. However, if it sits for even a little while, it begins to emit an unpleasant odor of ammonia. For housewives, the chimera cartilaginous fish, which has no scales or hard bones, is, of course, very convenient to prepare.

Fat is extracted from the liver of chimeras, which has long been known as an excellent wound healing agent.

The current trend towards increasing the volume of production of the European chimera using deep-sea trawling for the purpose of production medicines from the liver oil of this fish led to the inclusion of this species in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List. The chimera hare fish has protective status, as a species close to vulnerable.

Today's abundance seafood products so great that it is quite difficult to surprise their connoisseurs.

However, only recently has it become widely available mysterious fish, popularly called sea hare. Fans of culinary experiments will probably be interested in what this amazing creature and how it should be eaten.

What it looks like and where it is found

The true name of this fish sounds ominous - European chimera (Chimaera monstrosa). She belongs to the chimera cartilaginous fish and is found in the waters of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and is also found in the Barents Sea.

Did you know? The sea hare does not have a swim bladder, like a shark, so it is forced to constantly move to stay afloat.

Outwardly, this marine inhabitant does not look very attractive; his characteristic features- a large triangular head, a massive jaw and a long thread-like tail. This fish is called a hare because of some external similarity of its muzzle with a hare.

Some seafood sellers call it a sea rabbit, but this is erroneous, since the sea rabbit is a separate representative of the underwater kingdom, which is a mollusk.

Calorie content and chemical composition

Sea chimera meat is a low-calorie dietary food:

the calorie content of 100 grams of sea hare fillet is only 116 kcal;
the meat contains essential omega-3 fatty acids;
Chimera fillet is rich in vitamins A, E and D.

Useful properties

Like any seafood, the European chimera has a lot of useful properties:

first and most importantly, sea hare fillet is an ideal source of easily digestible protein, which is especially valuable for athletes and people involved in physical labor;
the presence of fatty acids in meat has a beneficial effect on the condition of the skin, hair, nails, internal organs, in particular the liver, regulates cholesterol levels in the blood;
Important! Few people know that the European chimera has a poisonous upper fin, so when cutting up a carcass you need to be extremely careful, trying not to touch it and get hurt.
vitamins A, E, D, present in the fillet of this fish, are useful for exhaustion and hypervitaminosis.

Contraindications and harm

Of course, like any other product, sea hare meat is not healthy for everyone and not always:

First of all, you need to take into account that this fish most often feeds at the bottom of the reservoir - accordingly, it is possible that it ate carrion and toxic products;
like most seafood, chimera is a highly allergenic food, so it is best avoided by allergy sufferers, children under 3 years of age and pregnant women.

How to cook in the oven

The sea hare is an infrequent guest on the shelves of shops and markets; more often it can be found in restaurants as an exquisite delicacy. Indeed, preparing a chimera without certain experience and secrets may end in failure.

Its meat is quite tough, but at the same time juicy, with proper preparation It has a mild fishy taste and a dense consistency. If the fish was not fresh or the fins were damaged when cutting the carcass, the finished fillet will taste bitter.
To avoid this, you need to buy seafood only in trusted places equipped with refrigerators. A fresh chimera should have clear eyes and red gills. There are quite a few recipes for preparing sea hare, but it must be taken into account that simply frying it in oil is not practical due to the specific nature of the meat.

You can best appreciate the taste of fish by baking it in the oven under various marinades and sauces that add juiciness and piquancy. Sea hare fillet turns out very tasty if you bake it under a double fur coat.

For this you will need: