If the old saying “you are what you eat” held any truth to it, we would be some scary looking mother fu**ers.
We apologize for the crass language, but when taking a look at what some of the most common types of seafood actually look like when living in their natural habitat — ones that many of us eat often — we were shocked (and a little impressed). Turns out that we have feasted on some very frightening living creatures. Ones that we might want to run and hide from if encountered in the wild.
We’re glad that some brave soul before us was willing to catch, prepare and eat these creatures, because we wouldn’t have — and we’d be missing out on some of our favorite dishes like conch fritters, crispy calamari and barbecue eel rolls.
Conch
Flickr: joelogon
Hope you enjoyed those conch fritters! We won’t be surprised if you decide to never eat them again. (But you should, because it’s just so good.) In the Bahamas, conch is the country’s main dish — they even
eat the worm. It is most often eaten raw in salads or as conch fritters.
Alaskan King Crab
Flickr: kasio69
Have you gotten a good look at that mouth? We’re lucky that we only have to face this crustacean on our plates.
Monkfish
Flickr: bocagrandelasvegas
This guy stepped right out of “The Never Ending Story” and into the seafood section of our menu. You should know, that he looks almost more frightening
once caught. But apparently most people don’t care, since the popularity of this guy’s tail has brought prices up to those of lobster.
Scallops
We know. This doesn’t look like those seared scallops you order at the restaurant, but take a closer look at that adductor muscle — the light pink round part nestled in the shell — that’s what you’ve been eating. Bon appetit!
Calamari
Flickr: wildxplorer
Also known as squid. This is what it looks like before they slice it into strips, batter it, fry it and sell it as calamari served with marinara sauce at Italian restaurants. We don’t know about you, but we can never un-see those eyes.
Sea Urchin
Flickr: Eric Kilby
Sea urchin is considered a delicacy in parts of the world. It is not the outside shell that you eat, but the gonads being protected inside by the sea urchins spines. (And yes, you are looking at the mouth, er anus — well both — of the sea urchin.)
Mussels
Flickr: Oliver Quinlan
You should all know what the inside of a mussel looks like because we eat them directly out of the shell, but we thought you might want to get a real close look at what exactly lives underneath those shells — without the allure of white wine broth.
Skate
This. Thing. Doesn’t. Even. Look. Real. But it totally is. To be fair to skate, it isn’t often found in this enormous size. But the fact that we can find it like this is worth noting.
Shrimp
Flickr: Phú Thịnh Co
The strangest eyeballs of all the living creatures. We’re all so grateful that shrimp cocktails are served without their heads.
Eel
Flickr: octal
Yep, this is what your barbecued eel roll looks like before it’s been barbecued. While eel is technically an elongated fish, let’s be honest here: this looks just like a big pile of snakes.
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