AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye Eating barracuda

I love fish and eat it regularly. Avoid fish that weigh more than 5lbs during the summer months and you will be completely safe. In my many years as a nurse in Belize I have only encountered one other patient who had this, and their case was mild and they recovered fully without any problem.

I would like to present the counterargument that barracuda meat is really, really, really delicious -- and that pleasure of eating it is worth the infintesimal risk of contracting a rare disease.

I like barracuda too and I do eat it,but first checking to make sure it was not a big one caught in the summer.

This is an argument that has gone on forever....I guess the living win...?? We have enjoyed lots of different reef fish; my favorites are Barracuda and Grouper. However, I have read that many of the death cases are from Grouper.....See this link, it seems to have some history and preventative information.

http://www.caribbeancompass.com/ciguafinish.html

Ok, scared.

If we really knew what was in a lot of food we'd starve to death from being too scared to eat anything. As I said , don't eat big fish and you'll have no problem , and even if you do eat big fish----chances are very,very,very slim that there would be a problem.

Just caught a 20 pounder yesterday and ate some without any problems. Heard about this before and summer months are problematic but I'm told by my fishing guy that you can tell by looking at the fish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciguatera

Lots of folklore, superstitions and such about the thing.
Have ya heard the one about the ants not eating it if its contaminated?

Yes, I heard the one about the ants, from the guide that was trying to convince me eating barracuda can be completely safe.

Fugu anyone?

Besides that, how do you know how "big", is too big?