# What are the fish you should and shouldn't eat?



## Biggera Yakker (Jan 25, 2007)

Besides the obvious fish we all eat (flatties, bream, whiting, mackerel, snapper etc), what are the fish you shouldn't eat and are there any fish that have traditionally not been eaten (carp?) for whatever reason but other people do?
One that I always hear locally is longtom (pike in other places?) is full of bones so don't bother to eat them.


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## Breambo (Apr 19, 2006)

I eaten a few long toms, their allright. I think you can eat just about anything its whether it tastes good or not. One that surprised me was the Rock harry, or red harry, or red rock cod, like the one that stung me, is meant to be delicious, bugger that I hate em. :lol:


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## danofish (Jan 4, 2008)

You definitely should not eat puffer fish!
As for the others there has been some talk of levels of heavy metals in the larger pelagic type fish, that accumulte as they prey on other fish. This is generally restricted to those species higher up the food chain (marlin, sowrdfish, some tunes, etc). However as far as I know they are okay to eat up to a few times a week, problems only occur if you get stuck into them all the time.
I guess everything in moderation is the way to go.


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## rob316 (Oct 2, 2007)

apparently every freshwater is edible....thats a fact i only learnt 5 odd months ago..there might be some preparation involved with certain ones , but every one is edible .


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

You should eat EVERYTHING you catch and kill. Otherwise why kill it?
Dont eat anything caught in the Brissie River. There are some ******* mudsharks up this way I would give a wide berth too as well.


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## Slide (Oct 25, 2007)

Howdy,

I think I read that large spanish macks from around Hervey Bay should not be eaten due to ciggataria (spelling?). Heavy metals in large pelagics are an issue if you eat more than once a week (as danofish said), I think Dolphin Fish/Mahi Mahi are included in this group (this is not an issue for me, I can't even get a bream at the moment!). I reckon you shouldn't eat Orange Roughy (enviro reasons), but you would have to buy one, I doubt people are catching them off yaks. Then the rules and regs say we can't keep/eat barra over 120 cm and flatties over 70 cm for breeding issues, which I agree with (plus I'm never likely to get a barra over 120 cm). Tarpon are apparently not worth much in the pan, I just believe this and have thrown them all back. Maybe I should give them a go. Freshwater barra aren't rated either, but some people have recipes that make them OK. Never tried a cattie or a carp, for good reason, they just look like they would taste like mud. I think many Asian nations eat some of the species that we dislike, but I think they keep their carp in really clean water. I lie, I just remebered I ate cat-fish in Thailand. Was pretty good, but they have some awesome spices.


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

I'm with Gatesy on Bream - YUK.

Dont eat garfish from an estuary - taste of weed and POO !!

Ocean luderick GOOD ... not estuary POOOH TOO

Flathead YUM

Whiting YUM YUM

John DORY YUM YUM YUM

SNAPPER YUM TIDDLY YUM

Dont eat anything thats too spikey and inflates !!!!


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## Alan (Mar 14, 2008)

Mahi Mahi are one of the fastest growing fish in the sea so surprisingly a big one is only 2 or so years old & probably has less heavy metal in its system than a decent bream which could be 10+ years old.
Stay away from big Spanish Macks, Chinamen (the fish not the humans) & there's another that looks like a coral trout with more spots which I can not remember the name but is a don't eat fish due to cigatera.
Heavy metals in your big Tuna & Beakies. Toads & Puffers of course.
I remember from a trip to the Whitsundays they recommend you don't eat any reef fish over 5kg.
Cigatera is a funny thing, it can effect different species at different times in different areas.
It can make you quite sick & worst of all, it can effect your dangly bits so for my mind, not worth the risk.
Unless you're dirt poor or starving, I'd recommend if you're not sure, don't eat it.

Personally,
Kingfish, Cobia, Snapper, Mahi Mahi, Coral trout.... Why would you eat anything else?

Al


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## Breambo (Apr 19, 2006)

Heres a few things Ive heard over the years so I dont know how true they are but make pretty good sense.
From hawaii, longer than your arm will do you harm, cigatera.
Kiss the fish and if your lips tingle, cigatera. Maybe thats where Rex Hunt got his fish kissing thing from.
And the last one me good old dad used to say, if it doesnt have scales dont eat it. :lol:


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## Ferrins (Apr 7, 2008)

ciguatera poisoning fears has led to the release of some quality fish that I have caught on trips up north. Cigua-check is a test kit for identifing this toxin but I don't know if it's available here.


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Is there a special place that you should kiss it for the tingling :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## RowieFX (Dec 19, 2007)

rob316 said:


> apparently every freshwater is edible....thats a fact i only learnt 5 odd months ago..there might be some preparation involved with certain ones , but every one is edible .


with that being said.... anything is edible with preperation and the right idiot to chow it down.

the big no no for me is carp! willing to give pretty much anything alse a go, as long as the person cooking knows their fish.


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Carp is a regular meal in some countries... in Israel in the supermarkets you can buy live carp just like you can by barramundi here at the fish markets.. I think its Russian influenced thing but could be wrong

Carpe et diem with fries .......


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## Slide (Oct 25, 2007)

Alan,

Mahi Mahi are listed along with tuna, marlin, etc. as potentially having heavy metal issues. I imagine it is more to do with their position in the food chain rather than their age.


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

I ate a big bream once and I felt the bloody thing go through several of my organs... not food poisoning a s such but had pain in the liver and other organs !!!! Got it from the harbour ... ditto for a bloody big blue swimmer aswell

I fed my buddy sashimid bonito once and he reckons he had severe joint pain afterwards - I was fine :shock:


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## Arripis (Feb 18, 2008)

Ciguatera is only a problem in tropical waters and usually occurs in tuna/mackeral type species, although I have heard of it being in other fish.

Tunas and mackerals (even small ones) can also be contaminated with something called histamines,which occurs from bacterial growth in these type of fish. That is why you should always keep tunas on ice or cool when caught to reduce production of this toxin. This has caused lots of illnesses in Aust.

Heavy metals like mecury, occur naturally in large predatory (as previously stated). Generally only a problem in very big tunas, or big snapper. Orange roughies would be high also, as they are so old. The people that have problems tend to have been eating 6 serves of tuna a day! Alot of Australian tuna is marketed overseas as being low in mercury. If you are not planning on having a baby, I wouldn't worry. If your wife is preggas, it is goof to eat small fresh fish, as the omega 3s are good for the baby. However, this is when you should avoid the large predatory fish as it can affect the babies brain.

Biggest problem is shellfish, as they filter all the nasties out of the water. Farmed shellfish are monitored for the presence of faecal associated bacteria, viruses and also toxic algae that are similar to the cause of ciguatera to protect consumers. These fisheries are often closed after pollution events such as heavy rains. So harvesting wild shellfish can be a bit of a risk, particulary close to large populations of people

Fish in some areas of Sydney Harbour (near Paramatta i think) can be contaminated with chemicals called dioxin, which can cause cancer. in the longer term. The fishery was canned for this reason, not sure if it has opened again? But still the small portions that the average consumer would have is stuff all.

Sorry for the diatribe, have to talk about this drivel at work on a regular basis.....

Cheers
Tom
Ps. I eat any seafood that I can get my greasy mitts on


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## Arripis (Feb 18, 2008)

Cheers Red,

SA equivalent to DPI, PIRSA


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

Koi Carp. Their owners will kill you.


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## slider65 (Feb 9, 2007)

This is the good time of year, and the big fresh deep sea mullet come from the beaches on north straddie. And i can get them from the fish markets near where i live the same day they are great eating, but i know some people will disagree with me.


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## lucifer (Feb 21, 2008)

I have eaten carp back in East Germany in the late 70's .My uncle came across the carp in the local pond flapping about in the weeds ,stated did autopsy(he is a doctor/micro surgeon)and said it looked ok .Aunty broiled it and served it up.It was very watery and soft ,but palatable,the remaining of my week there ,I spent in the crapper .Never again ,never again i rather eat a live frog


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## chris58 (Nov 25, 2007)

never eat any fish that your mother-in-law gives you, she is just getting even :twisted: 
dont eat fish your mate caught if you didnt catch any yourself  you will never live it down!
dont eat fish you might find floating upside down in storm water drain. 8) 
and never eat fish that have a make on them that says "made in china"


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## feel the sting (Aug 8, 2006)

On a trip up to Fraser island in 1999, a mate and myself felt the affects of ciguatera poisoning. We ate fish everyday, mainly spotties and one day a cobe of about 7Kg.The spotties were not big fellas. After eating the cobe which was dinner for 2 nights we felt like shit, with all the side affects attributed to ciguatera poisoning including nausea, temperature reversals ( cold water felt hot), racing heartbeat, rashes and blurred vision. A very uncomfortable time. The side affects lasted for about a week for myself, but my mate had side affects for 3 months. Including a very strange one, when he was having sex his penis felt like it was burning and on fire. This lasted for 1/2 Hr. His doctor ofcourse assumed the worst. But he ended up in hospital twice on IV drips of mannitol. And to this day occassionally gets some symptoms.

We did know about ciguatera before going up to Fraser, and not to eat spaniards, but didn't know cobes had it. Have since eaten a cobe I caught at SWR and had no ill effects.

the sting


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

I've heard that the highest ciguatera concentration is released from the skin and bones of infected fish. A few people have told me that any likely fish should be bled immediately, then deboned and skinned to reduce the risk.
True/ False?

With bream, estuary models taste like crap but the ones that hang around the whitewater off the rocks are superb. I ate one last night. Delicious.


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## Biggera Yakker (Jan 25, 2007)

Yeah Dan, I love the taste of bream caught from the surf!


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## Slim (Mar 4, 2008)

As a marine biologist and former general manager of on eof the largest seafood markets in Qld, i can honestly say that our markets were responsible for only one case of ciguatera poisoning (well at least that we were notified by Qld Health). That fish was a Gold Spot Cod taken out of the Gulf of Carpentaria that went 15kg. As a result of that, we banned the purchase of all cod species over 5Kg and all reef species over 7Kg. As ciguatera is caused by an algae that is a bioaccumulator size and position on the food chain determines what fish are more likely to carry it. It also seems to have an accumulating effect in humans as well, My wife doesn't eat anything but the odd snapper or whiting, we can eat the same fillet of spanish mackeral and due to my love of coral trout and mackeral i may go down with poisoning and she wont. Certainly they have been developing a test kit for ciga, though kissing them is pure crap. As for bleeding and boning, that cant work either as the poison is carried in the muscle and flesh.

The best way of telling if a fish is carrying the toxin has been to give it to the neighbours cat, if it karks it don't eat it. a better test would be to feed it to the mother-in-law.


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## Sunhobie (Jun 22, 2006)

feel the sting said:


> The side affects lasted for about a week for myself, but my mate had side affects for 3 months. Including a very strange one, when he was having sex his penis felt like it was burning and on fire. This lasted for 1/2 Hr.
> the sting


Well thats it for me! I'm never eating fish again!


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

> when he was having sex his penis felt like it was burning and on fire. This lasted for 1/2 Hr. His doctor ofcourse assumed the worst. But he ended up in hospital twice on IV drips of mannitol. And to this day occassionally gets some symptoms.


Were you watching him closly on this trip, no camp of free and easy spirited german backpackers near you ;-) :lol: :lol: :lol:

I have never had poisoning from fish but Dad got a bad tassie scallop and can't go near them any tassie scallops since or he's on the crapper for a week.

Cheers Dave


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## saltiwater (Apr 7, 2008)

Brother-in law landed a weid looking fish up in fraser island. Tasted awful. Found out a few weeks later it is a fish called "Happy Moments" which apparently has venormous spines that can give you hours of extreme pain. I wonder why these fishes are called "happy moments"??????
Another fish to avoid eating are the "southern Seacarp" or marble fish. It's freshwater cousin taste even better than these guys.
I would generally release all fishes that i don't recognises and making extra care to avoid handling them.


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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QlpoOTFBWSZTWX7lS9EAABbfgBAQUKGACoAgEIovZ/6gIACJFCeKNqaNNNqAaZAJVTxppTZNTTyQyNG0ahlAFZuoi20r8wOyYAy4GyCOQ77X7XDFcoxVIyGvL+iV2QPWaqeMzfZLHl7i3DJlHlsW96z4ywVGoSGkquYOyI9bm78YmDduYSFZzGFU7MlTRJkX9KKtxYKHo38XckU4UJB+5UvR


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