Rx Chicken and Oysters’ Sarah Doss Talks Lionfish

Lionfish have become one of Rx Chicken & Oysters’ featured dishes since reopening in 2023, and there is a good chance that if you order it, owners James and Sarah Doss speared it 100 feet below the Atlantic that same day.

Lionfish – an invasive species from the Indo-Pacific that first showed up off the North Carolina coast in the early 2000s – are exotically beautiful, recognizable by their long, venomous spines that radiate from their body like a lion’s mane. The venom, delivered through the spines, can cause intense pain, swelling and nausea in humans. The spines are removed before cooking.

How lionfish – a native of the Pacific Ocean – first appeared in the Atlantic is unclear, but researchers believe they were released in the wake of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Since then, lionfish have spread into the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, with studies showing they can reduce the abundance of native reef fish by up to 80%. Their voracious appetite and high reproductive rate make them particularly disruptive to marine ecosystems.

For two years, the Doss’ spearfishing expeditions have targeted the fish in hopes of curbing the lionfish population. Each fish speared and served at Rx Chicken & Oysters is one less wreaking havoc on our local fisheries. James and Sarah try and get offshore to spear lionfish a couple of times a week, often leaving at dawn and returning to the dock in time to work in the restaurant that night.

Fresh from a day-long cruise before a busy Friday night, Sarah Doss took a minute to talk to Feast.

When did you start spearfishing for lionfish?
Doss: “We got certified to dive two summers ago. The first year was sort of experimental. Can we get them? James was playing with recipes. When we reopened in December, that’s when it was like full-on go as much as we can.”

How did you find out about lionfish as an invasive species?

Doss: “I’ve just seen kind of a flurry of articles in the past few years. As an artist too, they just caught my eye so much that I was just really interested in them visually as well. And then the more I learned it was disturbing because it was such a problem, but it was also encouraging because it was something that we could do something about.”

What does their habitat look like?
Doss: “I just love to videotape as we’re going down because every time it seems like it’s different. Once you get to a certain level, things kind of open up and you can see the ledge. Depending on your visibility, like today, the visibility was great so we could see 80 feet at least around us. They like to hide under rocks. Sometimes they’ll be sitting out in the sand, but a lot of times you look under some of these rock ledges and you see a group of them.”

Walk me through the steps of how you go down and catch a lionfish.
Doss: “We use a three-pronged spear. We’ve tried a bunch of different ones, and that’s the one that seems to work the best. So, basically when you spear them, you put them into a long canister that helps protect you from their venomous spines. You’re carrying that big canister in one hand, and you’re putting your spear in with the fish and there’s a little flap that prevents the fish from coming out.”

And all this is done at a hundred feet underneath the Atlantic Ocean?
Doss: “Yes. At least.”

When you spear one, does the group scatter?
Doss: “They don’t know to be afraid because they don’t have any predators. They’re just looking at us as we’re spearing them. You can get your spear tip 2 inches from their body, and they’re not moving. They’re just looking at you, and their friend next to them is not swimming away either.

What’s the best way to eat a lionfish? What do they taste like?

Doss: “It’s very mild white (fish), and it’s really delicate meat. They’re so versatile. That’s the really cool thing about lionfish. That was why it was kind of hard to figure out how we wanted to prepare them. Ceviche is excellent, and you can make that out on the boat. That’s very good. You know, a lot of times, we’ll pan-sear it. We’ve made fish dip with it. We’ve smoked it and put it on top of deviled eggs. We’ve done all kinds of different things.”

Do you like it?
Doss: “Oh, I love it.”

It’s one of those things where you can enjoy it and know you’re doing some good at the same time.
Doss: “Yes, absolutely. Just the fact that they’re so delicious is the golden ticket to actually doing something good.