Lionfish and ciguatera

[Chugwhump]

Looks like an update on Lionfish and Ciguatoxin

FDA Adds Lionfish to List of Fish That May Carry Ciguatoxins | Food Safety News

"“We have also found CFP toxins in lionfish (Pterois volitans and Pterois miles) collected in waters surrounding the U.S. Virgin Islands,” says the agency in the document. “However, as of January 2013, there have been no reports of CFP illnesses associated with the consumption of lionfish.”........
in FLORIDA


Chug
So far, so good, and knows that cig is in all sorts of fish we eat.

 

[Amazz]

My personal unscientific opinion....and I eat lionfish a lot. We regulate our pollution runoff better than Caribbean islands. Isn't that what causes the algae that goes through the food chain, producing cig? We also have the gulf stream and near shore currents that flush that mess out and disperse the toxins that cause cig. Just me, but I'm not worried about eating lion in Jupiter. I wouldn't touch most fish in the Caribbean.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

My personal unscientific opinion....and I eat lionfish a lot. We regulate our pollution runoff better than Caribbean islands. Isn't that what causes the algae that goes through the food chain, producing cig? We also have the gulf stream and near shore currents that flush that mess out and disperse the toxins that cause cig. Just me, but I'm not worried about eating lion in Jupiter. I wouldn't touch most fish in the Caribbean.

No cig. is not associated with pollution as far as I know

 

[DebbyDiver]

The water is a lot warmer down there for a longer period of the year (I recently moved from that area) hence many more USVI fishes have ciguatera than Florida ones. While my Florida friends enjoy downing lionfish filets with gusto, most of my USVI friends choose to feed them to other fish instead.

 

[Hank49]

My personal unscientific opinion....and I eat lionfish a lot. We regulate our pollution runoff better than Caribbean islands. Isn't that what causes the algae that goes through the food chain, producing cig? We also have the gulf stream and near shore currents that flush that mess out and disperse the toxins that cause cig. Just me, but I'm not worried about eating lion in Jupiter. I wouldn't touch most fish in the Caribbean.

I doubt that no matter how much you regulate your runoff, that your water is more pure than we have here in Belize.

Regarding where ciguatera comes from. I was told by one of the world leading ichthyologists that the dinoflaggelate which produces the toxin is a bit like a lichen that is the first organism to grow on a recent lava flow. It is one of the first organism to grow on the exposed calcium carbonate of damaged reef. This is why ciguatera was rampant in the South Pacific after WW2. The US had dynamited reef to get material to build airstrips on islands they were occupying. The same can happen I would presume, after major hurricane damage.
Given that it happened in the South Pacific 60 years ago, it's a pretty clean indicator that industrial and agricultural pollution is not a factor.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I doubt that no matter how much you regulate your runoff, that your water is more pure than we have here in Belize.

Regarding where ciguatera comes from. I was told by one of the world leading ichthyologists that the dinoflaggelate which produces the toxin is a bit like a lichen that is the first organism to grow on a recent lava flow. It is one of the first organism to grow on the exposed calcium carbonate of damaged reef. This is why ciguatera was rampant in the South Pacific after WW2. The US had dynamited reef to get material to build airstrips on islands they were occupying. The same can happen I would presume, after major hurricane damage.
Given that it happened in the South Pacific 60 years ago, it's a pretty clean indicator that industrial and agricultural pollution is not a factor.

Never heard that before.. interesting!