myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Oh no. Something else to worry about. Whilst reading about insect repellents on the Hospital for Tropical Diseases website(as one does) I stumbled across CIGUATERA poisoning. I'd never heard of it and wish I hadn't. It is caused, apparently, by eating certain reef fish - including grouper and snapper - and is prevalent in Trinidad and Tobago. I'm travelling out in a couple of weeks and wondered whether anyone had any experiences or info. I do enjoy fresh fish and will, hopefully, be catching some of my own. I know the advice on these sites tends to group Trinidad and Tobago together but I imagine this must be an issue for both islands. I did know that barracuda can cause food poisoning and I presume that this is the very same beast.

Whilst this will not prevent me eating fish, as food poisoning goes this is pretty nasty one. The worse sympton is that, in some cases, even once you have recovered, relapses can occur after drinking alcohol. Now that is bad. This would probably leave me in a semi-permanent state of relapse. Hopefully someone out there is going to come back and tell me that, in common with the FO, the advice is exaggerated and that the last case was in Port of Spain in 1952.

About two and a half weeks to go, whoo-hoo!

Regards

Barry

Hi Barry

Ciguatera is common in waters between latitudes 35° north and 35° south - therefore a vast proportion of the world's most popular holiday destinations.

To be frank, I've never heard of any cases, so find it hard to believe that it's common. I've just returned from eight weeks on the island and ate fish around five days a week - much of it bought fresh from the fisherman and slapped on the barbie.

Just some info from the Rough Guide website that might be of use:

Usually occurring 1 to 6 hours after eating (up to as long as 30 hours), the symptoms are commonly mild and predominantly gastrointestinal (diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pains) or neurological (muscle aches, weakness, pins and needles, burning sensations of the skin, blurred vision, photophobia and a metallic taste in the mouth). Symptoms can persist for as long as 2 weeks. Severe cases are rare.

Frankly, I shouldn't worry about it. The risk is probably less than getting salmonella from eggs.

Sounds like a rum punch hangover!!

Steve's quite right in that most of the fish are OK to eat, but I would add a few words of caution.

Ciguatera is a neurotoxin - it affects the nervous system and can cause partial paralysis, numbness, dizziness, speech and vision impairments and can even be fatal in rare cases. The body's natural reaction to any ingested toxin is the rid the system of the cause, hence plenty of vomiting and diahorrea. Not a pleasant way to spend a holiday.
In other words, if you can avoid eating fish that pose the greatest risk, then do so.

But how do you tell which fish to eat and which to avoid?

The toxin is derived from microscopic algae which grows on coral reefs and other hard surfaces.
This algae is grazed by any number of small reef fishes, parrot fish which feed on coral and fish like mullet, which feed on detritus and micro-organisms.

These fish are rarely eaten, so don't actually pose the problem -
You are what you eat and big fish eat little fish, so it's the fish further up the food chain that need to be considered a potential hazard.

Barracuda are probably the number one fish to avoid. They hang around areas of abundant food (like reefs) and eat almost every species of reef fish if the get the chance. They are also avid predators of mullet.

Like many other toxic substances e.g pesticides and heavy metals, the ciguatera toxin becomes more concentrated the further up the food chain you go and barracuda are at the very top. Very few fish eat barracuda - they can out-accelerate almost anything
that swims (except a bigger barracuda), so a big barracuda is likely to be a potential source of highly concentrated ciguatera.

Another species to avoid would be the jack family. These are known locally as Crevally or Cervally. Perhaps the best-known member of the jack family, is the crevalle jack (Caranx hippos), found in most tropical and even some sub-tropical seas. Perhaps more common around Tobago is the horse eye jack (Caranx latus). If you check out the fishing pages of the activities section, or the photos in the gallery under my name, there are pictures of barracuda and jacks to ID them. Just to confuse matters, some members of the jack family are less risky, such as the blue runner, which spends most of its time away from reefs and eats a lot less reef fish. Personally, I wouldn't eat reef shark, nor tarpon, because of their dietary habits, but you are unlikely to come across these on the menu.

Most of the pelagic species (fish of the open ocean) such as the tunas, wahoo, dolphin fish (Mahi-mahi), marlin and other bill fish eat squid or flyingfish, or in the case of marlin, which are at the top of the pelagic food chain, they eat Mahi-mahi, which eat flying fish, which eat small squid etc, etc. Most of these pelagic species should be safe to eat, assuming that they are freshly caught.

Having said all this, the people of Tobago and most other areas where ciguatera is present (a large area as Steve has mentioned) don't seem too troubled by the effects, despite eating large quantities of potentially 'infected' fish. They seem to develop an immunity to the toxin, which if the food chain theory is maintained, could also accumulate in humans. It's the visitor to Tobago that needs to be careful and just because the locals like a nice barracuda steak, it doesn't mean that you can tuck into one with impunity.
Bon appetite

Steve

Cheers Steve.

Clear informative post. Thanks.


Can I pick your brain further?
Just wondering about things like shrimps, prawns, lobsters etc
How do they stand as regards Ciguatera?

Terence

I don't profess to be an expert on ciguatera - just passing on a few tips I've picked up over the years, fishing in the tropics.

I would think that crustaceans and shrimps pose a very slight risk in they also graze on algae and detritus (including scavenging dead reef fishes). However, I would think that being fairly low down in the food chain the concentrating effect of these toxins in the flesh is unlikely to cause problems - unless you overdose on lobster and shrimp for breakfast , lunch and dinner.

I wouldn't worry if I were you.

Cheers
Steve

Hi Steve,

So what are the most common fish caught in the waters of Tobago? I'm off there again in April self catering and was going to get some fresh fish from the fishermen on the beach but having read your previous posts i'm not sure what to eat and what to avoid,should i abandon the whole idea?
Cheers,Andy

Thanks for reply Steve.
Understood.

Andy

There's no need to starve yourself of a good fish supper.

Just to reiterate -
species such as the tunas (yellow fin, longfin, blackfin and bonito) wahoo, kingfish, flying fish, dolphin fish (Mahi-mahi) and marlin are safe to eat, assuming that they are freshly caught and most will be available as 'catch of the day' directly from the fishermen or at the co-ops on the beaches. As Steve has suggested it's best to eat fish shortly after purchase/capture and that includes any of the snapper family, which are very common (and delicious on the bbq). Ask the fish seller what each fish is and they will happily tell you.

Fish to avoid would be large barracuda, some of the jack (crevally) family and small reef fishes like grunts and parrotfish - so the fish to avoid list is a short one.

Cheers
Steve

Just an afterthought.

I don't wish to alarm anyone, but expectant women are often advised to limit their intake of certain fish e.g salmon, as toxins and chemical residues can be passed on to the unborn foetus and I'd therefore suggest that any pregnant visitors to steer well clear of barracuda in particular.

Cheers
Dr Steve

Steves,

Thanks for the informative replies. I do hope I haven't caused a mini food scare. It certainly seems that the list of species that pose a risk is very small and I can't remember seeing barracuda on the menu in any of the restaurants that are popular with tourists.

Thanks again

Barry

beeing white, living here, eating every fish that can't swim fast anough.. no problems here... might be because the people here, especially fisherman are aware of the risks and usualy only catch/sell baracutas (and freinds) up to a certain size. the younger, the less risk of beeing poisened.
just writing this because we like people to be aware, but not in panic.
enjoy your fish on the island (nothing better than a yummy greenback tuna)

steph