Importance

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Abstract

Apparatus and method for subdividing a fish body into a loin-containing portion and a viscera-containing portion. The apparatus includes a carrier, a cutting assembly, and a runway connecting the two. The cutting assembly and a fish body supported on the carrier are advanced relative to each other along the runway. Blades at the cutting assembly flank the runway and form a pair of angled cuts intersecting to form a V-cut that opens toward the ventral side of the fish body. The planes of the blades are separated by an angle of between 80.degree. and 160.degree., depending on fish species and size, to minimize the amount of loin meat separated with the viscera. Means are provided for setting the tilt of the longitudinal axis of the fish body relative to the path of the vertex of the V-cut so that the path extends between the backbone of the fish and its visceral cavity substantially from the vent to a point on the outside surface of the fish body in the vicinity of the eyes. In this way, a wedge-shaped belly section containing the viscera and belly bones is cut from the remaining loin-containing sections of the fish body. The two sections are thereby made available for downstream processing at separate stations.

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First Claim