# Barracuda?



## chambers270 (Jun 15, 2008)

I went out offshore yesterday and we ended up landing 2 Barracudas. One was 16lbs the other 20lbs. The guy I was with said you can eat them if they are under 4 feet long.

Anybody on here ever get sick from eating Barracuda, they have a toxin that builds up in them called Ciguterra. I heard it was best to eat smaller ones and not to eat any over 4 feet.

Chris


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## Gadget (Jun 15, 2008)

chambers270 said:


> I went out offshore yesterday and we ended up landing 2 Barracudas. One was 16lbs the other 20lbs. The guy I was with said you can eat them if they are under 4 feet long.
> 
> Anybody on here ever get sick from eating Barracuda, they have a toxin that builds up in them called Ciguterra. I heard it was best to eat smaller ones and not to eat any over 4 feet.
> 
> Chris




All true, eaten em a few times, never got sick.


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## Doyle (Jun 15, 2008)

I will eat small cuda from around here.  They are delicious.  I will not eat cuda of any size from the Keys.   Ciquatera poisening comes from coral reefs.   Reef fish eat the reef and absorb the toxins but do not get hurt from it.   Cuda and other predators eat the parrot fish and the toxin gets passed to them.  It builds up in them over a lifetime.   

My feeling is that small barracuda here in central FL haven't had much time to build up any toxin due to the lack of hard coral here.   Cuda down in the keys grow up eating the stuff so I'm a little more worried about them.


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## Ed in North Ga. (Jun 15, 2008)

Thats what Grandma always said- under 4 foot- I dont think I remember anyone being brave enough to eat a big one. Everyone always said its a time thing- the longer they live the more toxin they have.


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## swamp hunter (Jun 15, 2008)

I see in the news paper about 1/2 times a year the Coast Gaurd airlifting a couple of crew members off the frieghters in the gulf stream to hospitals for eatun um.  Having said that , my dad usted go down to the keys ,and catch all he could . BUT, only eat the small ones. bout 2/3 feet. He,d fly all the way from Colorado , just for them shiny bullets.


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## JoeyWommack (Jun 15, 2008)

The further north the better.  Not enough poisonous reef fish in the northern parts for cuda to make a consistent diet of them to get ciguetara.


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## chambers270 (Jun 15, 2008)

A guy gave me this link if anyone else is interested. I am not too concerned but this might giv eme a little more piece of mind. These fish were just under 40 inches. But they were off of St Simmons Island and I dont know of any corral reefs in the area.

http://cigua.com/OnLineStore/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=29


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## chambers270 (Jun 15, 2008)

So now that they are safe, are they good eating fish? I have never really heard anybody talk about eating them. I didnt even know that we had them around here until recently.


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## capt stan (Jun 16, 2008)

Yes they eat good. Here in GA your really safe on the cuda. Do a search for reported cases in GA...You will have your answer. Grouper, snapper, AJ Cobia all can have it...Depends what they are eating. Every year there are more reported cases of it down south and from the islands from eating grouper then cuda. Cudas just get a bad rap. They are a great game fish, cool looking and give a great fight.

Having said all that I would go buy the golden rule of smaller means safer with cudas. We have few if any reef fish here in GA that can contaminate the cudas meat. So IF you catch a REAL BIG'UN that means hes OLD and could have POSSABILY travelled up from real South Fla or the islands..... Figure the odds.


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## homey (Jun 16, 2008)

Have eaten them all my life here.All sizes and I'm still here.


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## chambers270 (Jun 16, 2008)

Sounds great, I talked to another guy today and he said they are great eating.

Chris


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## deadend (Jun 24, 2008)

I like eating cuda and have eaten some pretty big ones (44"+) we've speared in the northern gulf.  I probably wouldn't eat any from down south but you run a risk of ciguatera from a lot of fish in coral reef areas.


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## DBM78 (Jun 25, 2008)

Went fishing down in Aruba a couple of years ago and we were catching tuna, dolphin and wahoos. I asked the first mate what was his favorite fish to eat and he said barracuda I gave him a strange look and he said I would rather eat cuda than tuna. I said do you think you can get the Capt to put us on some of them I got try some of them.


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## foodplotplanter (Jun 25, 2008)

i`ve always been told that under 20 lbs.ok
i will say that i think they were the best fish i ever ate


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## JFKFLA (Jun 26, 2008)

Smoked barracuda dip!! Try it sometime if you know how to make fish dip.


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