If Fish Scales Were Removed, Is There a Way to Know if it's Kosher?

What if the scales were already removed from a fish? Is there any way to know whether it is kosher?

If the skin of the fish is intact, and one is able to identify the species based on its skin, we can accept the fish as kosher even though we did not see the fish with its scales. The basis for this is the Gemara (Chullin 66) which says that a fish which will eventually grow scales (but doesn’t have any yet) is kosher. Pischei Teshuva (Yoreh Deah 83:2) explains that in order to rely on this halachah and permit the fish without seeing its scales one would need to be able to recognize the species of fish based on the appearance of its skin.

The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt”l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.