Grouper is poisinous???

[bigeasy1]

I was killing some time online and clicked onto one of those stupid blurbs like "the ten best states to retire in" "the ten bet places for hamburgers" etc etc.

This one was the "Ten fish you should never eat". Naturally all the farm raised and imported stuff was a no no,but the one that surprised me was GROUPER.
They didn't mention what kind of grouper but just said that it was poisonous and would cause nausea,vomiting,and much more serious stuff.

Personally I don't believe much of these idiotic ten best ten worst blurbs,but as I know nothing about grouper other than the ones I ate in restaurants were very good and didn't make me sick. I think I ate three of them in four days at Doc Fords in Sanibel,nary a bit of indigestion.

So is there some truth to this or is it bogus info by someone who knows nothing about the stuff they write about.

[cdavisdb]

I guess I've eaten several thousand pounds of grouper, no poisoning yet.

That said, grouper "can" poison you. Its called ciguatera and can be very nasty. I don't eat large grouper from the Caribbean. Barracuda and large jacks, especially yellow jacks have a bad, and well deserved reputation. The toxin is cumulative and builds up in large, old individuals. Any predator that lives in an area with the toxin can acquire it, so where they come from is important. I have more than a few friends who have gotten at least one hit.

[Terry England]

Originally Posted by bigeasy1

......I think I ate three of them in four days at Doc Fords in Sanibel, nary a bit of indigestion.

Well John, I guess that was a pretty good recommendation you got -!

As usual Conner is "spot on". The deal is Ciguatera , they believe, comes up the food chain this way - Corals have poisons that attack fishes nervious systems - all fish except Clown Fish (Nemo) and Parrot Fish, that is. Clown Fish hide in the coral, Parrot fish actually EAT the coral. (When you are diving near them you can actually hear them "crunching" it up - weird) Barracuda, Big Snappers, Jacks and Grouper sometimes eat Parrot Fish. If the Grouper, Snapper, Barracuda or Jack is big it may have eaten a lot of Parrot Fish in it's lifetime and they get a buildup of these toxins in their meat. Parrot fish are prevelent in the Central and South America, the Caribbean and the Keys. There are virtually no Parrot Fish in the Gulf of Mexico on Florida's West Coast so there would be no coral toxins (Cigutera) in the food chain with Gulf Grouper. My 'ol Cuban buddies said when they were "back on the island", if someone caught a big Grouper or Snapper, they would cut a piece of meat off the fish and put it next to an ant bed. If the ant's ate it it would be OK, if they left it alone it had too much poison (ciguatera) in it and they threw it away. They say they never ate Barracuda there but they eat Gulf Barracuda here, especially the 3 footers. Gulf Wild Grouper is the best - 3 out of 4 nights at Doc. Ford's proves that, John.

[wattaway2]

Hadn't heard about the ant trick-- was told if the flies don't land on it don't bother with it

[Capt Terry]

Trying to catch back up with CSC online. Just read Connor's trip report and see lots of comments about ciguatera. I have a friend in Stuart, FL who is not a fisherman and claims he picked up ciguatera from grouper in a restaurant. Think he was a few months before all the effects subsided.

[cdavisdb]

Ciguatera sucks! i finally picked up a dose, probably from a mid sized hog snapper taken near Hole in the Wall, Bahamas. More than a month and I'm recovering a little, but still sick.

Yuck

[Terry England]

I understand that they have a couple of cases of ciguatera each year in Monroe and Dade county hospitals, but the Gold Coast boys would need to confirm that. I've never heard of a case on the west coast or east coast north of Miami and those affected may have been fishing in the Bahamas.

John, You'll be fine. Go ahead and order the Grouper Rubin. There's a higher probability of getting struck with lightening or your Seacraft breaking in half.

[FLexpat]

You are 68 years old and you are starting to worry NOW? You are in the perfect position of not having to worry!!! Several guys I know retired so they could get really serious about about things they had mostly avoided when they were younger like good cigars, fine scotch, fast cars, and wild women (they still try to avoid blatant stupidity though ). What Terry said x2

[DonV]

Well John if you did get a wild woman what would you do with her?

"I'm not as great as I once was, however I'm as great once as I ever was"

[NoBones]

OK...

Well Johnny if you want to give up bait fishing for trolling, then the place
for you will be at The Villages of central Florida in Lady Lake!!

The ratio is 10 women for every man!!

There are stories every week about sex on the square and every place else
in that 20,000 acre community!!

It is the hottest retirement community in the country..
Just google the villages, you will be reading for hours!

If all else fails just come to the east side and fish and play bingo...