Stuffed Fish & Taxidermy

Fish Taxidermy

• Fish must be painted to restore their natural color.stuffed fish image by Aaron Kohr from Fotolia.com
  
  According to the website Learn-Taxidermy.com, the most challenging subject for mounting is the fish. It takes an artist's touch to paint an entire specimen, whereas other subjects only require painting in certain areas. Warm-water fish are easier to mount than coldwater, due to the greasiness of coldwater fish.
  
  

Mounting Material

• A mounted blue marlin may not have any part of its body in the finished product.Angling that big blue marlin image by patrimonio designs from Fotolia.com
  
  Many fish get mounted over a smooth mannikin. Depending on the fish and the difficulty level of removing the skin intact, the mounting may only include the body of the original subject along with a synthetic head. In some cases, as with saltwater fish and catch-and-release fishing, there is nothing of the original animal mounted.
  
  

Wildlife Permits

• Certain species of wildlife are on the Endangered Species List, which means that a taxidermist must have special permission to perform taxidermy on them. Most regulations refer to birds and to large sea life, but smaller, endangered fish are also protected.