what are the characteristics of fish and shellfish

The mild, sweet fish is sautéed, poached, or roasted. Shellfish is generally composed of 75-80% water, 15-20% protein, 2-5% fat, 1-2% minerals. The meat of crustaceans including lobster, shrimp, and crab is white fleshed, with connective tissue that has more collagen and is therefore not as tender as fish.

Full Answer

What is a shellfish?

Shellfish is simply anything that comes from the sea, not including fish. There are three types of shellfish, mollusks, shellfish and crustaceans. Shellfish consists mainly of shell or exoskeleton (like lobster or shrimp).

What is the composition of shellfish?

Shellfish is generally composed of 75-80% water, 15-20% protein, 2-5% fat, 1-2% minerals. The meat of crustaceans including lobster, shrimp, and crab is white fleshed, with connective tissue that has more collagen and is therefore not as tender as fish.

What is the difference between shellfish and crustaceans?

The mild, sweet fish is sautéed, poached, or roasted. Shellfish is generally composed of 75-80% water, 15-20% protein, 2-5% fat, 1-2% minerals. The meat of crustaceans including lobster, shrimp, and crab is white fleshed, with connective tissue that has more collagen and is therefore not as tender as fish.

How do you identify a shellfish?

Shellfish Identification. Shellfish are divided into two general categories that include crustaceans and mollusks Crustaceans are arthropods, related to the insect family, and easily identified by their hard, segmented bodies.

What is the characteristics of shellfish?

Shellfish is generally composed of 75-80% water, 15-20% protein, 2-5% fat, 1-2% minerals. The meat of crustaceans including lobster, shrimp, and crab is white fleshed, with connective tissue that has more collagen and is therefore not as tender as fish.

What are the characteristics of fresh fish and shellfish?

1.1. 2 Characteristics of fresh and spoiled fish and shellfishFRESH FISHEYESBright, bulging, pupil velvet black, cornea transparentGILLSBright red, covered with clear slime; odor under gill covers freshFLESHFirm, body is stiff, impression made by fingers do not remain; slime present is clearBELLY WALLSIntact4 more rows

What is the differences between fish and shellfish?

All fish can be classified into two very broad categories: fish and shellfish. In the most basic terms, fish have fins, backbones, and gills, while shellfish have shells of one form or another. Fish are divided into two groups, freshwater and saltwater.

What are the characteristics and market forms of shellfish?

Market forms of shellfish include shucked, live-in-the-shell, Individually Quick Frozen, or IQF, and peeled-and-cleaned. IQF shellfish are flash frozen immediately after being shucked or peeled and cleaned. Peeled-and-cleaned shrimp have the intestinal vein and head removed and the shell peeled.

What are characteristics of fresh fish?

Whatever the variety, whole fish have certain characteristics that indicate freshness. They should have bright, clear, full eyes that are often protruding. As the fish loses freshness, the eyes become cloudy, pink, and sunken. The gills should be bright red or pink.

What are examples of fish and shellfish?

Seafood comprises all bony fishes and the more primitive sharks, skates, rays, sawfish, sturgeons, and lampreys; crustaceans such as lobsters, crabs, shrimps, prawns, and crayfish; mollusks, including clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, periwinkles, whelks, snails, abalones, scallops, and limpets; the cephalopod mollusks ...

Why it is important to know the characteristics of fish?

These characteristics help fish survive in their environment. By observing and comparing these features, students learn that fish, like other living organisms, can be organized and classified into meaningful groups for identification and further study.

What is meant by fish and shellfish processing?

What Is Fish Processing? Fish processing involves preparing fish and seafood for delivery to consumers. Once fish is harvested, it must undergo several steps before it's ready to be sold in the market. The process includes gutting, filleting and packaging of the product.

Are shellfish considered fish?

Despite the name, shellfish are not fish in the true sense of the word. Shellfish are a group of aquatic invertebrate animals that are either mollusks, crustaceans, or echinoderms.

What are types of shellfish?

There are two groups of shellfish: crustaceans (such as shrimp, prawns, crab and lobster) and mollusks/bivalves (such as clams, mussels, oysters, scallops, octopus, squid, abalone, snail).

What are the forms of shellfish?

The term “shellfish” includes shrimp, crayfish, crab, lobster, clams, scallops, oysters, and mussels. Shellfish can be prepared in different ways and are eaten all over the world.

What are the methods of fish and shellfish processing?

The four basic procedures used in the final processing of fish products are heating, freezing, controlling water activity (by drying or adding chemicals), and irradiating.

What are the four common guidelines in assessing quality fresh fish and shellfish?

Common criteria for choosing fishThe body of the fish must be rigid or arched.The fish should be bright, with a metallic luster.The eye should be bright, vivid, and brilliant.The gills should be bright, wet, pink or red.The smell should be pleasant and mild.Scales should be shiny and not detach themselves.More items...

What are the characteristics of shucked shellfish?

Shucked shellfish (clams, mussels and oysters without shells) become plump and opaque when cooked thoroughly and the edges of the oysters start to curl.

What is fresh fish?

Fresh fish are fish that have not been preserved, cured, frozen or otherwise treated other than chilled. They are generally presented whole or gutted.

How can you tell if seafood is fresh?

How to tell if a fish is freshCheck the eyes for clarity. Before you handle the fish, check the eyes. ... Smell the fish. A fresh fish should smell like mineral water or even cucumbers – it certainly shouldn't smell like swamp water or have strong earthy, ammonia or 'fishy' odours. ... Touch the flesh. ... Check the gills.

What is shellfish?

A close-up of freshly harvested muscles. Abundant, versatile and masterfully prepared with little more than good olive oil and sea salt, shellfish exemplify elegant simplicity. Knowing the characteristics, varieties and best uses of shellfish give you the fundamentals you need to make the most of these gems of the sea.

What are the two types of shellfish?

Varieties. Shellfish are classified in two groups: mollusks, which consist of clams, mussels, scallops and oysters, and crustaceans, such as lobsters, prawns, crabs and shrimp. Unless you live on the coast, less-common varieties of shellfish -- such as whelk, periwinkle and conch -- take a little work to track down, ...

How do shellfish work?

Shellfish work with nearly every cooking method -- steaming, poaching, grilling, frying and roasting each produce different results. Gentle, moist-heat cooking techniques, such as steaming and poaching , best preserve the subtle flavor and delicate texture of shellfish. However, several preparations -- such as lobster thermidor -- rely on high, ...

What spices are used in shellfish?

Fresh shellfish usually needs only a touch of sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice to accent its subtle sweetness, but several traditional spice blends are available for specific preparations, such as seafood boils and clam bakes.

What to do when buying live shellfish?

When purchasing live shellfish, check for quality -- clams', scallops' and oysters' shells should close when tapped; a lobster's tail should curl when touched; crab's legs should move. Pat thawed shellfish dry with a paper towel prior to cooking; the excess moisture from melting ice crystals create steam and prevents browning. Frozen and shucked clams, oysters and scallops are ideal for cooking but not raw consumption.

How to differentiate certain shellfish?

You will admit that it can be complicated to find your way among all these names. Knowing that it is not always easy to differentiate these succulent shellfishs between them!

What are the different types of shellfish?

Indeed, they have a soft body and they have no vertebrae. There are several categories of mollusks: gastropods, bivalves, cephalopods and chitons.

What are the characteristics of a seafood?

Characteristics of the most popular seafood. Squid - have a slightly rubber texture. You can buy them fresh or in powders. Frequently it is eaten with butter and garlic, inserted back into the shell, or as an ingredient in other dishes, Rock lobster - occur throughout the world in coastal waters. Lobsters do not have ticks.

What is a lobster?

Lobsters - crustaceans that live in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; there are several varieties. They are sold fresh or frozen, alive or cooked in the shell. Vivid lobster is dark blue, when cooked, it becomes bright red. Lobster can be cooked, steam, or bake on a grill.

How long can frozen fish be stored?

So we normally buy frozen seafood or canned in brine. If we can get alive, they must be stored for no longer than 2 days at 0-5 ° C. Freezed we should store no longer than 8 months.

Why should people with hypertension limit their consumption of seafood?

People with hypertension or a low sodium diet also should limit their consumption, usually because they are cooked in salted water. An additional advantage of seafood is a short cooking time, so you can quickly prepare a meal, as well as they can be used in cooking in many different ways.

How to cook an octopus?

Octopus - the one with eight cephalopod found in temperate climates. It should be cooked in the same way as the squid. Octopus meat should be beaten with a pestle until it loses elasticity. Ends of the arms and suckers should also be cut off before cooking. Head, longer than 20 cm, is usually rejected, although it may be cleared and stuffed with quartered arms and suffocate. Smaller specimens we should fry completely in batter.

What are clams used for?

Larger hard shell clams, with a more pronounced flavor, are used for soups. The smaller you can eat raw the bigger ones, you can cook and serve with melted butter. Oyster - the molluscs, occurring in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They have many varieties, differing in size and shade of brown.

Where is seafood eaten?

Traditionally, they are widely consumed in Mediterranean countries and Antipodes, where for centuries belong to the traditional diet of the population living there. Seafood term often includes all other edible gifts of the sea, which can be successfully used in the kitchen, such as seaweed or algae.