[Mercat]

Mr. Mercat and I lived for two months in Yucatan, catching and eating the native fish. We ate lots of snapper and one barracuda. We also ate parrot fish. The thing about the top predators is that any poison in the prey fish end up being concentrated in the top predator. So the parrot fish eat the coral which is toxic. The barracuda and the snapper eat the parrot fish. We didn’t get sick but we did talk about it since one of the men we were camping with had been a professional fisherman. He ate the barracuda raw however so we felt we could eat it cooked.

[par4]

When I was on Kwajalein last year, one of the rules was - if you catch any reef fish, consult a Marshallese local before eating. The locals know which can be eaten and which should not.

Of couse, best is catch, photo and release.

[Ditter]

We have made quite a few trips to Cozumel to fish. Ate a lot of them, never knew about this problem.