What can you eat?

[applepip]

I asked a question on fouling which brought up another question.
How do you know what you can eat from the sea in the MED?
I read somewhere all marine life is edible?
But then I read of some fish have highly poisonouse bits.
One article suggested filling fish with rum before cooking?


<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[AndrewB]

Bit like mushrooms. Most are edible, many are not worth the bother, a few are definitely nasty or even fatal, e.g. puffer and fugu fish. Some like scorpionfish and moray eels have poison organs to be avoided when raw, but the fish are eaten once cooked. There are standard fishing guides for all this.

There is no particularly poisonous part of a fish (as opposed to inedible) though for obvious reasons the stomach and bowels is avoided in larger fish. Toxins can concentrate in the liver of some fish, which is usually rejected along with the rest of the entrails, except in survival situations. Shellfish can intensify some pollutants like mercury, and are best avoided from near industrial rivers.

The real nasty though is ciguatera, which affects some otherwise very edible fish like barracuda, making them poisonous. Its picked up from coral and is generally not a problem in the Med, though it is in the West Indies. This could be where your rum theory comes from, I've heard something like this as an 'urban myth', though drinking alcohol makes the effect of ciguatera poisoning worse.

 

[applepip]

Better leave my fishing tackle at home then?

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[AndrewB]

Certainly not! The fish that you'll catch on a line are generally excellent eating. But a guide to the dodgy ones would be good.

 

[ongolo]

Hi AndrewB,

Located here in the bay is a synchro lift and many large vessels from the west coast of africa get maintained here. All anti fouling is blasted off and washed into the sea. Around the clock, 6 or more large fishing vessels and large tugs are worked on. It is quite a lot of anti fouling.

Does this mean that fish in the bay is most likely poisonous or will heavy metal and copper etc accumulate in the liver? How are sharks affected this way? We feed sharks to the dog, is he heading for alzheimers or something?

Thanks for a comment.

regards ongolo

<hr width=100% size=1>1000 dream about it, 100 talk about it, 10 start and 1 completes it

 

[applepip]

The bay?

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[AndrewB]

I'm no expert, but for anyone fishing in unfamiliar waters a little appreciation has to be helpful.

As I understand it, fish livers concentrate organic toxins such as pesticides, DDT, dioxins etc (<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.renewedhealth.ca/welcome.asp>SEE HERE</A>), plus the poisons they themselves create: while shellfish can accumulate heavy metals such as from antifouling. I suppose that means theoretically the fish would be safer, but I'd be wary of either in an area of heavy toxic pollution!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[ongolo]

The bay?

What should I make of this question?

22 south and 15 east, does this help?

Walvis Bay

regards Ongolo

<hr width=100% size=1>1000 dream about it, 100 talk about it, 10 start and 1 completes it