Fish skull euro mount

[Jigsup]

Years ago i I was fortunate to reel in a very massive bull Dorado. Unfortunately I was unable to have the fish mounted naturally because I was told by the taxidermist that the skin was too oily. And that I would only get a painted replica of the fish. Well I was very disappointed to get that news and declined that offer quickly.

I still think about that fish from time to time. And often wonder if there was a way I could have gotten the fish mounted naturally. There was a post about gyotaku which I thought was pretty neat. But I don’t like to waste my fish. Don’t know if the ink used in gyotaku is edible. However I’ve came across a video on euro mounting fish skulls. Looks like a fun project. I’ve euro mounted my deer heads before but never thought about doing it with fish. I’ve seen fish skulls in museums but it never crossed my mind to try it for myself.

Has anyone done this process before? If so how is the process in real life? Videos make things look very easy. Is there a good “starter” fish that can be caught in the bay to practice on?

Be fun to try it on some toothy critters

Heres a link to the process
https://youtu.be/u-WMbsU0GC0

[dsaavedra]

Fish skulls are hard to euro mount because there are so many pieces. If you're very detail oriented and familiar with the anatomy of the fish it may not be as challenging, but it sure looks tough to re-articulare a fish skull. I've wanted to do it but always chickened out for this reason. I think a catfish would be a good fish to try on because I think they have fewer bones that make up their skull, and the bones they do have are thick and tough.

The video shows the guy boiling/simmering the head to get the meat off - this is not recommended because it can damage and weaken the bone, especially for fish which have thinner bones than mammals (still, you shouldn't boil mammal skulls either). A better process is called "maceration", where you simply leave the head in a container of water for an extended time and bacteria naturally break down all the soft tissue. It is a foolproof method. The warmer you can keep the water the faster the process goes. The process can also be expedited by manually removing as much flesh and soft tissue as possible before maceration though this is optional.

Good luck if you try it, fish euro mounts look awesome when done well.

Re gyotaku - the ink is water based and non-toxic. It easily washes completely off the fish and the fish is completely safe to eat.

[kidrockfish]

Years ago I used to make rockfish shirt prints. I did a bunch, but light blue on white material seemed to be the best for me. I did one with black and orange O'
s colors as a background for some fish pics. I moved on from that to fish skulls. I've always had a bluefish skull hanging from my truck rear view mirror. I have a speck skull right now in the truck. I only do fish with teeth. I mount them to a piece of driftwood. I use a bleach mixture and do not take it apart, just try to keep it all intact. Spray it with shellac when I'm done. I've painted a few, but did not like the look. Thanks for the video, never thought of seeing if anyone else was doing it. I might try some peroxide as well. The shellac turns it from the white color and removes the smell. I have a few 30 inch blues we caught this summer that I'm working on right now. Thanks, Dave



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[Jigsup]

Dave, thanks for mentioning the “maceration”. I’ve never heard of that and will research that process. Catfish was the first fish that came to my mind when wondering what fish to start with. After looking at pictures of catfish skulls via google search it confirmed my suspicion on how easy they may be to put together. I like challenges such as taking things apart and putting it back together.

kidrockfish, those are some neat looking mounts! Great job. European mounting fish heads isn’t popular seems like. Looks tedious to start but rewarding in the end. For my euro deer mounts I’ve used bleach to disinfect and as a whitener after leaving the head out in nature for a few months. Never thought about peroxide. Do you have problems with the teeth falling out?

I believe I will try to take on this project next time I catch a good size catfish or a toothy fish.