Here's Why

Australian fish at risk of Ciguatera poisoning

I'm often asked for a list of fish people shouldn't eat if they want to avoid the risk of Ciguatera Fish Poisoning. Here's the official list from 1999 (before Sydney fishing was banned) for Australia, none of which I have ever knowingly eaten.

From the 1999 Federal Government report by Leigh Lehane:
http://www.affa.gov.au/corporate_docs/publications/pdf/animalplanthealth/chief_vet/ciguatera.pdf

"The main fish species in Australia that have caused outbreaks of CFP are: narrowbarred
Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commersoni) and other mackerel species,
coral trout (Plectropomus spp.), flowery cod (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus), barracuda
(Sphyraena jello), red emperor (Lutjanus sebae), queenfish (Scomberoides
commersonianus), grouper (Epinephelus lanciolatus), red bass (Lutjanus bohar),
trevally (Caranx spp.), Maori wrasse (Chelinus trilobatus), kingfish (Seriola spp.),
parrotfish (Scarus spp.), chinaman fish (Symphorus nematophorus) and paddletail
(Lutjanus gibbus) (Mitchell 1976; Gillespie et al 1986; Fenner et al 1997)."

About the author: Ian Woolf lives in Sydney, has a degree in Applied Science, worked as a solar astronomer, software engineer, systems programmer, webmaster, research assistant, Cisco CCNA tutor, Physics laboratory demonstrator, Computational Theory lecturer, and subject coordinator; while changing his career to freelance writing and broadcasting. Listen to Ian on the Diffusion radio science show on radio 2SER 107.3FM Monday at 6:30pm in Sydney or streaming audio on www.2ser.com, or listen to the Diffusion podcasts. You should follow me on twitter, here