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Post by crazedpaul on Jun 13, 2016 18:11:57 GMT -5
Howdy ya all so we have been fishing morethese days and the wife is worried about mercury in the fish....I am born and raised here and we used to eat it alot.... My brother in law ate barracuda years ago and got poisoned.... I swear he told me after words if you put a new penny on the meat if the levels are high it will turn that new penny black...He is a park ranger/warden i have always done it and never had it happen.... but she cant find it and thinks this is Bs .... Anyone every hear of it?I would think he would steer me right after it almost killed him and some other fellas that ate the tainted cuda....Thanks for any reply's... I will try to find his number... they divorced while back and we fell out of touch....
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Post by Mackerelman on Jun 13, 2016 18:59:39 GMT -5
Howdy ya all so we have been fishing morethese days and the wife is worried about mercury in the fish....I am born and raised here and we used to eat it alot.... My brother in law ate barracuda years ago and got poisoned.... I swear he told me after words if you put a new penny on the meat if the levels are high it will turn that new penny black...He is a park ranger/warden i have always done it and never had it happen.... but she cant find it and thinks this is Bs .... Anyone every hear of it?I would think he would steer me right after it almost killed him and some other fellas that ate the tainted cuda....Thanks for any reply's... I will try to find his number... they divorced while back and we fell out of touch.... I found a Couple Articles that You may want to read.
Fish Mercury and Human Health Advisories
myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/mercury/human-health-advisories/
Mercury in Fish FAQ
myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/mercury/faq/
Study Finds More Mercury in Freshwater Fish
abcnews.go.com/GMA/mercury-found-fish-streams-country/story?id=8369324
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Post by tears143 on Jun 13, 2016 19:07:55 GMT -5
Howdy ya all so we have been fishing morethese days and the wife is worried about mercury in the fish....I am born and raised here and we used to eat it alot.... My brother in law ate barracuda years ago and got poisoned.... I swear he told me after words if you put a new penny on the meat if the levels are high it will turn that new penny black...He is a park ranger/warden i have always done it and never had it happen.... but she cant find it and thinks this is Bs .... Anyone every hear of it?I would think he would steer me right after it almost killed him and some other fellas that ate the tainted cuda....Thanks for any reply's... I will try to find his number... they divorced while back and we fell out of touch.... It's not the mercury that got to him in the barracuda, It is ciguatera. I never heard of the new penny test for mercury. You usually only feel the mercury poison when you get older and accumulate a lot of it through out your life. Just try to avoid dark meat(blood line) and to not eat a lot of fish that contains a lot of mercury(basically fish that feed on other fishes). |
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Post by seabird on Jun 13, 2016 20:58:19 GMT -5
Certain fish have higher levels of mercury such as King Mackerel and Tilefish. Spanish mackerel have a moderate amount. And there are regions in the country where fresh water fish have levels of mercury that are high. This is a case where smaller fish are better, they have accumulated less and their diets consists of smaller life such as insects, worms, plankton etc.
I have never heard of the new penny test. And I googled the new penny test and could not find reference to it.
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Post by crazedpaul on Jun 14, 2016 10:11:20 GMT -5
my wife googled the penny thing for an hour and could not find any thing ... she did find the ciguatera.... all stuff i need to educate my self on will read those Articles thanks guys...
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Post by seabird on Jun 14, 2016 12:31:43 GMT -5
my wife googled the penny thing for an hour and could not find any thing ... she did find the ciguatera.... all stuff i need to educate my self on will read those Articles thanks guys... crazedpaul: I have to watch a bit in consumption of higher mercury fish. I have MS and some scientists suspect that mercury may play a role with the disease. When you look at the links, you will see links to varied salt and fresh water fish. I try to eat those that you can consume once or twice a week. The once a month fish I view with caution. |
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Post by egcolon73 on Jul 20, 2017 21:40:24 GMT -5
The pennie trick is a very old method to detect ciguatera toxins on fish like barracudas used by fishermen back in the day. I heard a lot about it back on Puerto Rico, but never seen it done.
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Post by detroitd on Jul 20, 2017 23:45:53 GMT -5
I wouldn't trust the new penny trick. Like tears said, mercury is biocumulative and one wouldn't get sick from eating a "tainted" fish. Years of eating heavy amounts, yes you'd possibly get neurological effects.
Ciguatera toxin would get you acutely sick. Nasty stuff. A few species are more prone to contamination with the bug, barracuda is one. As with many toxins, cooking doesn't inactive the toxin.
D
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Post by montylfl on Jul 21, 2017 16:55:06 GMT -5
I thought it was a silver coin. A few old timers I know use it on mullet. Beside the pennies today are not made if the same materials as 20 plus years sgo
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Post by susieflglades on Jan 22, 2023 23:03:11 GMT -5
Ok so I grew up in the Florida Everglades and my mom taught us to check the mercury levels in fish by fileting them and putting a silver dime on the meat, if the meat around the dime turned black there was too much mercury. Also I have eaten barracuda, they cannot be over 4 ft long but same test stands true for them. It works is all I know. My mom grew up around the “Tiger Family, Native American Seminole Indians who taught her this. My mom is now 86 years old. I have been using this method for over 40 years. I know there aren’t many silver dimes left but old silver jewelry works. I’ve never heard of the penny test but if it’s from old folks I’m sure they’re right. That’s my 11¢ lol
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Post by carlf on Jan 23, 2023 6:08:35 GMT -5
No, you cannot detect mercury in fish with a coin.
It’s measured in parts per million and you need lab equipment to process the samples.
Like others noted, ciguatera is what most likely what made him sick. It’s known to occur in barracuda.
Mercury poisoning is not an acute illness. You are not going to get sick from it from eating one fish. Long term low level exposure from eating fish with high levels is what will make you ill.
There is very good data out there on which fish from which water bodies have higher let of mercury. Large tuna, kings, swordfish and tilefish are high. Spanish macs, flounder and snappers seem to be low.
In tannic and coastal freshwater systems, bass can have very high levels while bluegills and shell crackers are much lower.
Based on what I’ve read, airborne depositions seems to be the likely source, as mercury appears to be a problem in waters with no point sources.
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Post by silverspoon on Jan 23, 2023 9:22:08 GMT -5
Airborne deposition clearly main culprit today, think power plants and garbage incinerators all over the State and country, belching filth into the air virtually non-stop. All that pollution put into the air doesn't just go away, it rains down onto the Earth and oceans, literally. And because mercury does not break down in nature, it accumulates in the food chain, starting with micro-organisms and working its way up in the food to us! Isn't the human race just wonderful? Similar thing is happening with plastics but that's a story for another day.
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Post by carlf on Jan 23, 2023 18:49:04 GMT -5
Correct, it starts with the micro-organisms that convert elemental mercury, which is no bio-availible, to methyl mercury, which is highly bio available. Its starts with the bacteria, bio-accumulates up the food chain until it gets to the top predators. Then us.
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