Invasive lionfish likely safe to eat after all

Cooking a lionfish fillet denatures venom proteins, ensuring accurate ciguatera testing. Image courtesy of Christie Wilcox, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, UH SOEST.

Scientists have learned that recent fears of lionfish causing ciguatera poisoning, caused by toxins produced by single-celled dinoflagellates that reef fish sometimes eat, may be unfounded. If so, current efforts to control invasive lionfish by fishing derbies and targeted fisheries may remain the best way to control them. A new study published in Environmental Biology of Fishes may have an explanation for why, although lionfish often test positive for the toxin, as of July 2014 there are no known cases of ciguatera from eating them. Lead author Christie Wilcox of the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) thinks it may be because venom proteins in the fish might act as toxin mimics. The fish’s proteins degrade with cooking, making them safe to eat, while ciguatoxins do not.

Read more about it at PhysOrg and Nature World News.