The Fish You Might Want To Avoid Ordering If You See It On The Menu

Whether for the thrill or out of desperation, humans love taking the risk of eating venomous animals. Some will drink snake venom for recreational purposes, while people in Northern Mexico may add denatured venom to their alcohol. Japanese cuisine includes fugu (pufferfish), which can be deadly in the hands of an untrained chef, while Americans have found their toxic love in the potentially dangerous yet delectable lionfish.

Preparing lionfish requires the complete and precise removal of the animal's venomous spines, and failure to follow proper protocol could result in painful neurotoxin poisoning. So, you may want to stick to the highest quality seafood restaurants if you're thinking about eating some. There's also the risk of contracting ciguatera, a type of algae-derived food poisoning from reef fish that comes with a host of nasty symptoms. While The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science found that overall, only 0.7% of lionfish contained dangerous ciguatoxins above FDA approval, in "hot spots," up to 53% had notable traces.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, ciguatera is incredibly hard to detect in humans, and the only way to be sure is if the fish is tested in a lab. There's no antidote, either. Luckily, ciguatera is not fatal, only unpleasant, but doctors can help patients manage their symptoms. In other words, it can be tricky for professionals to diagnose. 

Lionfish are an invasive menace to U.S. waters. They're indigenous to the Indo-Pacific region but reached America through the aquarium trade, where they were somehow released into the ocean. Unfortunately, they flourished through swift reproduction and wrecked native wildlife through their hunting habits. Few predators can consume lionfish — but humans are one of them.

Just as you would avoid eating fish with high mercury levels, lionfish may pose a significant risk, so why do people still consume them? The NOAA encourages people to eat lionfish as a conservation effort. If the demand for them increased, then more lionfish would be fished and taken out of the reefs, which is more resourceful than just killing them off. The downside is that fishermen are unable to meet demand to drastically lower lionfish populations because harvesting them is not economically feasible. 

In order to get the funding to make lionfish catching a profitable venture, there has to be enough people who want to consume this food at a higher price. Research suggests that certain people could be willing to pay more for lionfish if it means they're helping the environment — especially since the food has a sweet buttery flavor. Sadly, lionfish can be unsafe for us, and there are plenty of other tasty, low-mercury fish in the sea that people prefer.