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There's A Sickness From The Sea: Beware Of Toxins Found In Fish

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By FRANK SARGEANT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 20, 2008

The recent outbreak of ciguatera, or fish poisoning, reportedly caused by fish caught near Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary off Galveston, Texas, last November, is a reminder that the healthiest foods can have risks.

Anglers who fish for and consume reef species, including the popular gag grouper, black grouper, amberjack and red snapper, are subject to getting the long-lasting malady. But it only comes from certain species in certain areas.

The origin of the sickness, biologists with the Florida Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg say, are microscopic organisms known as dynoflagellates, which settle on coral or deep water grasses in some regions. These are toxic when consumed, but the poison is very diluted.

However, when thousands are eaten by small fish, then hundreds of these small fish are consumed by the larger reef predators, including grouper, snapper, amberjack and barracuda, the poison becomes more concentrated as it works its way up the food chain.

The largest, oldest predatory fish are thus the most likely to contain the toxin at a level that can affect humans. It settles in the muscle tissue, the part we eat, and it takes only a small portion to cause poisoning.

The poison is usually not lethal, but it causes nausea, diarrhea, dizziness and other maladies, and it typically lasts for two to three weeks, although it sometimes lasts a year or more. There is no truly effective treatment, although the Center for Disease Control says taking activated charcoal capsules immediately after symptoms start to appear may reduce the impact.

Until a few years ago, there was no practical way for consumers to tell whether a fish had the poison in its flesh. Folklore had it that dogs or cats would not eat tainted meat, that ants would not eat it if placed in their hill, and that it would turn a penny black.

But in fact, scientists say, the meat looks normal and tastes normal, and causes no odd reactions with metal. Cooking, freezing or salting does not eliminate the poison.

But there is a chemical test that can reveal whether the meat is good or not. It's now being marketed in a kit suitable for use at home or in restaurants or fish markets.

The Cigua-Check kit, priced at about $10, includes sampling tubes and a chemical solution. You put a small piece of the fish into the tube, add the solution, and if it turns blue, there is ciguatera in the meat. The process takes about an hour, the company says, so it's not something that you're going to want to do just before you start supper with a big slab of grouper. Your best bet is to sample the fish as they are cleaned, before they are refrigerated or frozen.

Details on the kits are available at www.cigua.oceanit

.com.

Of course, odds are that you're not going to have fish poisoning problems; there are only about 60 cases nationwide per year, and about 20 of these are typically in Florida. Fish from the Bahamas and the Caribbean more commonly carry ciguatera than Gulf Coast fish. But with more international shipping of fish these days, a bit of caution may be in order, particularly if you buy species associated with the poison.

BOATING CHARTS: Waterproof Charts, which prints NOAA charts on tough plastic sheets and adds notations for some of the better fishing spots, has just released a new large-print edition of the waters from Crystal River to Clearwater. The chart also shows recommended boat trails in difficult areas such as the St. Martin's Keys off Homosassa, boat ramps, navigation markers and other useful info. For details, visit www.waterproofcharts.com.

TURKEY SEASON: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has released a list of Wildlife Management Areas where hunting without a quota permit will be available for the upcoming spring turkey season. Some of the best-known include Green Swamp in Polk, Sumter and Lake counties, where no permit is required after the first weekend, Jumper Creek in Sumter County, and Three Lakes in Osceola.

The season is March 1-April 6 in the South Zone, March 15-April 20 in the rest of the state, but some WMA's have different opening dates; check www.myfwc.com for details.

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