Knife for de-veining, peeling and butterflying shrimp

A knife for de-veining, peeling and butterflying a de-headed shrimp, comprising

• a handle, and
• an elongated knife blade secured to said handle and extending forwardly thereof,
• said elongated knife blade having a generally flat-sided configuration and including an intermediate toothed blade portion disposed immediately adjacent said handle and lying in the plane of said knife blade, said elongated knife blade further including an arcuate blade portion integrally extending forwardly of said intermediate toothed blade portion and tapering from the junction with said intermediate toothed blade portion to a pointed tip free end, said arcuate curvature approximating the body curvature of a de-headed shrimp, said arcuate blade portion having a first continuous cutting edge disposed along the upper convex length of said blade between said intermediate toothed blade portion and said knife tip and a second cutting edge disposed along a portion of the lower concave length of said blade and immediately adjacent said knife tip and communicating therewith, the length of said second cutting edge portion being shorter than said first cutting edge portion,
• said intermediate toothed blade portion having a lower edge smoothly interconnecting said arcuate lower edge of said arcuate blade portion and said handle, said intermediate toothed blade portion having an upper edge defining an upwardly inclined ramp from said arcuate blade portion toward said handle with the rearmost portion of said ramp projecting above said handle, said upwardly inclined edge carrying a plurality of cutting teeth that have generally straight knife cutting-edges disposed thereon, each of said cutting teeth being alternately angled away from the plane of said elongated knife blade,
• wherein said knife blade is adapted to longitudinally penetrate the body of the de-headed shrimp with the knife tip insertable below the visceral cavity at the exposed de-headed end and exiting the shrimp body at the predetermined point for permitting said first and second cutting edges of said arcuate blade portion to vertically slit the shrimp body through the visceral cavity along the path of said arcuate blade portion to a depth determined by the depth traversed by said lower second cutting edge, the lowermost teeth of said inclined intermediate toothed blade portion passing through the upper portion of said slit in said shrimp body and engaging and removing the vein in said visceral cavity as said toothed blade portion passes therethrough, said inclined cutting teeth further engaging the shell above said vertical slit in the shrimp body for raising and separating the shell from the shrimp body and then longitudinally cutting the shell in alignment with the longitudinal vertical slit made in the shrimp body by said knife blade for facilitating easy removal of the shell from the shrimp body.