Im looking for a book on safe fish to eat

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Artic Warrior

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Hi all,
This is mainly for the med and atlantic
Im looking for a book on fish identification
and specifically one that shows fish that are safe to eat,

I can find a book on poisiness fish but that maybe just refering to their barbs/fins etc
and not meaning in the eating....

Thanks

Colin:rolleyes:
 
I don't know of a book but if you're able ask local fisherman or see what sort of catches are available on the quay. Some poisons like Ciguatera are transferable so the larger carniverous fish are more dangerous especially around reefs. Wikipedia extract - Predator species near the top of the food chain in tropical and subtropical waters, such as barracudas, snapper, moray eels, parrotfishes, groupers, triggerfishes and amberjacks, are most likely to cause ciguatera poisoning, although many other species cause occasional outbreaks of toxicity. Ciguatoxin is odourless, tasteless and very heat-resistant, so ciguatoxin-laden fish cannot be detoxified by conventional cooking.
 
There is a book that covers exactly what you're looking for. Unfortunately I can't remember what it's called but I do remember it cost about £700 !
 
Artic Warrior said:
Hi all,
This is mainly for the med and atlantic
Im looking for a book on fish identification
and specifically one that shows fish that are safe to eat,

I can find a book on poisiness fish but that maybe just refering to their barbs/fins etc
and not meaning in the eating....

Thanks

Colin:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

There is one that looks self-published on Amazon "Sea Angling Mediterranean Fish Identification [Kindle Edition]". Also on EBay as a printed version. Don't know what it's like but the pictures looks ok. It's only £3.47 and if it turns out to be rubbish you could send it back.
 
sandydog said:
There is one that looks self-published on Amazon "Sea Angling Mediterranean Fish Identification [Kindle Edition]". Also on EBay as a printed version. Don't know what it's like but the pictures looks ok. It's only £3.47 and if it turns out to be rubbish you could send it back.
Click to expand...

yep, just bought that one,,
Its not too bad, its a good pocket guide but no detail about poisonous fish,
 
Ciguatera

If it's ciguatera you're worried about then there's this test -

Many fishermen also believe that if you rub the fresh fish on your lips and they tingle or become numb, the fish is contaminated with Ciguatera and should be discarded. This method actually seems to have some logic, but I have to wonder, exactly who gets to pick which person is going to rub the fish on their lips?
Click to expand...

I've had a dose of ciguatera - not particularly pleasant. Trouble is you don't know you've got it until it's too late.

As has been said, ask the locals. If there are no locals it's a bit of a lottery - but certain fish (of a certain size) are more susceptible to the disease in certain areas. If in doubt, break out the corned beef (bute free of course:p).

PS: Never did the test above :rolleyes:. I think it was an accumulation of reef fish topped by an over-size grouper that did it for me. I was the only one of our family that ate the big grouper & it triggered the symptoms.
 
Ciguatera, occurs mainly in tropical reef fish, seemingly at certain reefs and at certain latitudes. As said, ask the locals before fishing on the reef. Fish caught in open waters, do not normally have ciguatera, but be aware it does exist.

As for the Med and Eastern Atlantic - don't worry, the hardest bit will be catching a big enough fish in the first place. As a general rule, if it swims you can eat it safely.
 
Bilgediver said:
The Cubans eat Barracuda which goes well with chips and East Africans eat Grouper and snapper is a delicacy in many places.???
Click to expand...

The trick is to eat fish that have been caught the ocean side of the coastal reefs.

Also small < 3lb barracuda are also generally thought ok to eat. I've eaten plenty of fish in the above categories with no ill effects.
 
We had a plastic card for fish identification and it said what was edible, unfortunately I can't remember where we bought it, an Internet search might find it. Across the Atlantic tyou will catch Dorado and Tuna, off reefs there are a variety of snappers that are edible. As said don't eat large barracude they may have Cigutera. In the Med you won't catch many if any, or at least we didn't, except for some Mackerel east of Gibralter.
 
Last edited:
Good afternoon:

Years ago I acquired a book entitled Mediterranean Seafood by Alan Davidson which has a page for the various species of fish and other sea food including a line drawing, names in used in various languages and, where appropriate, details as to how they should be cooked.

It was published by Penguin Books and my copy is a second edition published in 1981. Have no idea if still in print or not.

The ISBN number is 0 14 046.174 4

Cheers

Squeaky
 
I am looking for “The “ book also.
Had It in my hands, in a second-hand bookshop. ( 17 years ago ) Thick as a bible, extremely expensive even second-hand. English language. Not only fish, also sea plants, worms, shellfish, all known living sea life.
Every fish, or sea creature had a short notice about how to prepare- cook it.
I found it to expensive then, returned a week later..... book was gone.
Have eight books on sea life – fish on board, two of them cooking books. Have the Alan Davidson also, it´s more a cooking book. Every second find stays a riddle.
Found a sea anemone today whilst fishing for octopus. Big as a dinner plate, disappeared in a millisecond into the sand when I touched it. Not that I want to eat it, just curious.
 
The major problem is ciguatera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciguatera). You can't say which fish are or are not bearers of this poison, because it is derived from phyto-plankton; fish eat the phyto-plankton and concentrate the poison. The higher up the food chain, the more the concentration of the toxin. There are lots of "folk" ways of detecting the poison, but none are proven to be effective (which doesn't mean they aren't), and lots won't work on a boat - they depend of having things like ants available as test animals.

There are NO proven remedies (again, lots of folk ones, but they seem to follow the old story about a cold properly treated can be banished in a week, but otherwise it might drag on for 7 days!).

The really bad news is that the effects can last for many years. There is also evidence that the toxin can be transmitted by sexual contact or by breast-feeding.

The good news is that it is restricted to tropical or sub-tropical reef environments.
 
'cuda is horrible, even if you don't get poisoned. Bit like grey mullet, pappy, tasteless shi*e. Use for bait.
 
[QUOTE.

As for the Med and Eastern Atlantic - don't worry, the hardest bit will be catching a big enough fish in the first place. As a general rule, if it swims you can eat it safely,


OR ANY FISH AT ALL...i trolled all the way back from datca to Marmaris last summer with four different lines of the stern, and caught bugger all.
 
Wasn't there a TV series last year, or before, about folks sailing off into the sunset,or not. One couple had small children and they set off in a cat(lagoon?) for the caribbean. In some secluded bay they all came down with ciguatera in varying degrees. They were lucky and mostly recovered in a few days
 
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