Britt Kennerly and Jennifer Sangalang

Florida Today

Depending on who is doing the dining, shark meat tastes like chicken — or roadkill.

It's meaty and mild — but has to be soaked well before it's eaten because sharks urinate through their skin.

Whatever their take on this distinctive dish, those who work with seafood on the Space Coast agree the meat makes for a fairly popular, inexpensive choice.

Shark doesn't last long when it's available at Grills Seafood and Tiki Deck at the Port, said manager Eric Myers, or at the eatery's sister location, Grills Riverside in Melbourne.

"It's not chewy. The closest thing I can compare it to is alligator and chicken ... it's softer than alligator," Myers said.

"It's really good. We marinate it in teriyaki and garlic so it gives it a little bit of extra flavor. Then we put a glaze on top of it."

Shark kabobs are $14.99. However, if fishermen bring in the sharks as filets, Grills will cook them as a $5 sandwich or $10 dinner entree.

The requests are frequent. In summer, "we get it every day or every other day at least," Myers said.

Are there any health concerns with eating shark, such as possible mercury poisoning, because sharks' predatory nature makes them rank high in mercury levels?

"You'd have to eat a lot of shark every day" to make that happen, Myers said.

Seafood purveyors who offer the meat locally include Clayton's Seafood of Rockledge, in business since 1970. The store sells retail and wholesale, with customers including local restaurants.

Jan Walker and her husband, Brian, bought the shop last year. While they don't have shark on a regular basis, she said, when they do, "it runs for less than $10 per pound — relatively inexpensive."

"It's a mild fish, a meaty fish, meaning it's firm," said Walker.

"It's great for the grill and frying. I personally like shark kabobs."

But Josh Taylor, owner of Cabana Shores Tiki Bar and Grill in Palm Shores, is not a fan. An avid fisherman who fishes "anywhere from here to the Bahamas," he's caught plenty of sharks — and eaten them, too.

"I just think they're kind of chewy," he said. "Not quite as chewy as an octopus but definitely close. Plus, they have really, really thick skin, so they're hard to cut up."

While he hasn't had mako or thresher, highly regarded by some shark consumers, Taylor simply wasn't impressed by the taste of reef sharks.

"I would probably describe it as roadkill chicken but not quite as tender as chicken," he said. "If we bred an octopus, a chicken and a skunk together, I think that's what it would taste like."

Taylor can envision only one scenario in which shark might tickle his taste buds.

"If I was on an island and I had no food, I'm sure they'd be great," he said.

While it's available in Orlando, no Brevard restaurants sell one controversial concoction: shark fin soup.

The dish is offensive to George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at University of Florida's Florida Museum of Natural History.

Any perceived gastronomical glamour, for him, is far outweighed by what Burgess calls the immoral, unethical practice of finning sharks.

Finning, illegal in U.S. waters and responsible for the deaths of more than 60 million sharks yearly, involves sawing off the shark's fins and, most often, tossing the fish back into the water to die.

Even in China, the largest market for shark fins, sales of the gelatinous yellow soup are plummeting. That's due to public pressure, especially from celebrities and anti-cruelty activists, and last year, a ban on serving the soup at state banquets.

And the so-called magical or medicinal power of fins as food? Baloney, Burgess said.

"The theory is that they make you a better lover … that they're an aphrodisiac," he said.

"As one who's had shark (fin) soup, I can tell you it didn't help me a damn bit."

On top of all that, it's pricey.

"A bowl of shark fin soup in Japan will cost you $100 or more," Burgess said.

"It's almost like why Paris Hilton is a celebrity, because she's a celebrity. Shark fin soup is expensive because it's expensive … it's something to show off with, like buying an expensive brand of liquor even if you can't tell the difference."