Any ideas on what this is in this filet!!

[BuckeyeFishing]

Yeah, looks like a cyst from a parasite. Cut it out and enjoy the fillet, they are perfectly safe to eat.

[Special K]

I'm sure that particular fillet has been long since thrown away by now... and I'm sure we all could speculate on exactly what this thing is... but I think we all agree that disposing of any potential food that doesn't quite look right is the best policy. To me it looks very much like a very innocent cyst-like eruption that could have been caused by anything, including being foul hooked sometime in its earlier life. One of the bodies natural defenses is to surround the impurity with a fat-like deposit to isolate it, which later turns to a hard growth much like what you see in the picture.

We all have had splinters or have been pricked or hooked by any number of things where some impurity or other foreign contaminant was pierced or injected into the flesh. In one of my particular experiences: I was horned in the palm of my hand by a catfish when I was about 20 years old which later turned to a hard calloused spot about the size of a field pea that started deep under my skin. Over the years I finally dug at it and cut on it until about the age of 30... when I finally got it all out. Interestingly, at the core of the thing was a seed like thing that I'm guessing was the original contaminant (perhaps catfish venom) that caused the growth.