Comments on: Just what is that fish on your plate?

By: Antony

Antony — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:04:44 +0000

I live in France Europe.
After buying fresh fish (un-frozen) called ‘Nile Perch’ from Carrafour Supermarket, in Beziers, My wife cooked the fish normally, and it tasted very good. But only I ate this fish, my wife ate another type of fish, and was not affected atall. But I just after approx two hours, I began to feel tummy pains, and my tummy began to expand. This was beginging to feel very uncomfortable, so I retire to bed, about two in the morning I was very very sick, and I had brought up my entire stomach contents, as there was nothing left! I was also beginging to burn-up, meaning I was feeling like I was having a very high temperature, of which my wife confirmed. I slept on and off the rest of the night, and had to go to the toilet having tummy pains, that was diarrhoea that became very frequent visits to the toilet. Tried to eat some toast and went to bed feeling exhuasted, and was again sick!
Next day was very similar, except that my urine had become extreamly dark brown and my diarrhoea was a very light grey, with a foul smell. Next day same symptoms, except for flashes and thinking I could see things moving from the edges of my vision. Also the feeling of being unsteady on my feet. Then things appeared to start to come at me and I ducked, amazing! Plus seeing things out of the corner of my eye, but there was nothing there? This was not an enjoyable feeling what so ever. Plus I was now scratching myself to the bleeding stage, and again having another sleepless night. The next day with yellow eyes, my wife then made me go to the Doctors, as I’m not one to frequent the Doctors.
The Doctor was very helpfull, but it was differcult to make him understand me as his English is not good. He sent me for a blood test, and on collecting the results, I was told off by the nurse for drinking to much?!?
Anyhow the Doctor is not sure what or why I was sick/ill
and sent me for a liver scan, of which turned out OK as this is now over two weeks since the intake of the fish poisoning had occured, and my liver was found normal, only with a light fatty appearance. Again, I was warned about the demon drink> If you knew how much I normally drink, you would be amazed, as I do not consume that much! And I rarely drink Scotch or Brandy, excepting Christmas or other special occasions.
So what is the concensus of opinion, or diagnosis?

By: Katie

Katie — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:29:16 +0000

I came upon your article after reading about ciguatera fish poisoning on MSNBC about “Bizarre Fish Poisoning Sparks Alarm: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29392319/ and trying to research commercial names of fish as opposed to their actual names (but not scientific names).

The list of fish that are to be avoided (named in the article under a side bar) made me wonder what names those fish are commercially sold under. For example, even though this fish didn’t make the list – Patagonian Toothfish – it is sold under the name Chilean Sea Bass. How many people know that?

Your article made me wonder whether any of the fish that made the list could be sold under some other name, other than the commercial name it may already go by.

Some people may complain about over regulation, but it is too hard for even the most informed consumer to be sure of what they are buying.

By: Jay I. Gee

Jay I. Gee — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:32:05 +0000

“Collette also noted that fish barcoding will help with fishery law enforcement, identifying by-catch and protecting endangered species.”

This is a great application. I would like to see this implemented into more departments. At this point we can use all the help we can get here.

Thanks for the post.

By: Dan Kulpinski

Dan Kulpinski — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:11:23 +0000

I saw this press release today about how DNA barcoding is susceptible to mistakes, if the wrong copy of the gene goes into the barcode database. The press release describes a new study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, warning scientists to be sure they put accurate data into the DNA barcode databases.

Here’s the link:

“DNA Barcodes: Are They Always Accurate?”, http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=112113&govDel=USNSF_51

-Dan