DIY lionfish mount

Dawson_Reef51 · Oct 10, 2012

hey guys thought id share with you my first personal fish taxidermy art piece ive ever done by myself ... im a taxidermist in mesquite tx, my dad and i own a shop. my lionfish died on me about 5 months ago , and i froze him to one day maybe mount him , well i was bored one day up at the shop and figured what the heck , ill go ahead and try to mount this thing hahaha... well i looked on google for hours trying to find out if anyone had ever done this sort of thing before , and i couldnt come across anyone who had ever completed a actual skin mount (not a replica) of a lionfish. i believe i did a awesome job with it and someone would have to offer me a pretty penny to ever sell it! its for sure a one of a kind art piece! the fish is also mounted onto a dead huge coral skeleton.

p.s in order to do this i had to custom make the form to fit inside the body of lionfish, and we had to hand paint it with a brush because we couldnt get our air brush to do fine enough lines. hope you guys enjoy!!

Kano · Oct 10, 2012

Impressive but a bit unsettling at the same time. If you don't mind me asking, did you actually skin the fish and then made the mold for the skin? I'm only slightly familiar with how taxidermy works.

Squishie89 · Oct 10, 2012

That is really freakin' cool. Great job.

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Jake1 · Oct 10, 2012

I like that! Kinda creepy but interesting at the same time! Bookmark this jest in case I ever need a fish mounted!

Flipside · Oct 10, 2012

That's amazing work, man! Have you considered airbrushing the coral's skeleton to aid in the presence of the lionfish? Maybe a blue paint, with pinkish/purplish highlights? It will help it stand out even more, and show off your excellent skills.

Dawson_Reef51 · Oct 10, 2012

i was going to paint the coral rock , but didnt just because if anything ever happens to the fish mount i can always take it off the wall and stick it in my aquarium lol

and kano to your question , yes i had to skin the fish , take all the insides out , then make my old mold for it! sounds alot harder than it really is if you just know what your doing and do it every day! although i dont mount lionfish everyday , but it was alot like mounting a large mouth bass , i just was really carefull with the side fins!

thanks everyone for your intrest in my little piece of art

saltwaternoob · Oct 12, 2012

Looks very nice.

JasonM38401 · Nov 6, 2012

Looks like good work, I like it.

mfinn · Nov 6, 2012

very cool

kschweer · Nov 6, 2012

That's amazing. True talent right there.

wysiwyg · Nov 6, 2012

very impressive

NanoNathan · Nov 7, 2012

thats sweet. if i had your skills i would mount all my fish that have died and keep them forever!!!

bige · Nov 23, 2012

You could do a dry reef. That's cool.

shovelrider · May 7, 2013

+1 to doing a dry reef. Nice work though. One of a kind!

Dawson_Reef51 · May 8, 2013

Thanks for all the nice comments ... a dry reef would be sweet , will keep in mind for my next show fish that dies ... lol .

Texasnano · May 8, 2013

I have a half dozen fish in the freezer... Lol

fyrfytr · May 8, 2013

Was reading somewhere that even after they die the venom is still in the stingers...true, false?

Dawson_Reef51 · May 9, 2013

I heard that they keep there venom too but when I fleshed it I was very careful not to get anything on my skin I found a little weird looking liquid sack inside of him that I believe was his venom sack but I'm not a scientist and have no clue what it was exactly , I removed all meat and nasty stuff out soo as of now he shouldn't be able to release venom.