Scientists Find Worms in Almost Every Fish in a Tuna Haul – 96% Were Infected

41 pointsposted 5 hours ago
by arto
(sciencealert.com)

31 Comments

AnodicElegy

3 hours ago

Any angler will know that, in some lakes, it seems like every fish is full of worms. I've always dealt with that by frying the crap out of them -- no medium-rare bass for me, sorry. Alternatively, I'm sure they're fine after a few weeks in the freezer.

Rivers seem to be better, with worm presence (or at least, obvious worm presence) being less common. Additionally, I've never seen worms in bottom-feeding fish like catfish and carp.

senectus1

2 hours ago

>Additionally, I've never seen worms in bottom-feeding fish like catfish and carp.

no just the heavy metals you can see...

comrade1234

an hour ago

First, bonito is not tuna. Second, the reason there is a season for bonito is because of the parasites.

perks_12

3 hours ago

Land based fish farms might be the future for seafood. Actually rooting for Nordic Halibut and Salmon Evolution.

anon48293

4 hours ago

It has already been known for a long time fish, and in particular tuna, carry a lot of worms and parasites, which is why freezing rules are in place in pretty much every country.

For example here are EU regulations regarding freezing Tuna

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=PI_...

soupfordummies

2 hours ago

Prob dumb question but what about sushi? I'm talking about the storied markets in Japan where they go bid on the fish fresh off the boat.

EDIT: Looks like the next thread down goes into this. It is flash frozen to kill the parasites, usually on the boat.

mindslight

29 minutes ago

Move over mahi-mahi, here comes maha tuna.

khalic

3 hours ago

Why is the headline trying to make it sound like it's new or a big deal?

That's a terrible sensationalist website btw...

swills

2 hours ago

Part of the story that says:

In 2020, researchers at the University of Washington found evidence that Anisakis worms in raw seafood have increased 280 times since the 1970s.

So that seems new or new-ish.

christkv

4 hours ago

Bonus protein

jagermo

4 hours ago

Sell it as "protein tuna" and you can even markup the prices!

christkv

3 hours ago

The protein tuna diet

jmclnx

4 hours ago

I wonder how this will affect sushi ? Could people eating that get infected ? Seems in very rare cases the answer is yes.

I am from an older generation, I have never nor will ever eat sushi :)

dgacmu

4 hours ago

It doesn't, really - this is a known hazard. You want fish that was flash-frozen very rapidly after harvesting. It's tastier and it kills (these types of) parasites. Which is basically what you're going to get at any decent sushi place.

Never too old to try something that is incredibly delicious. :-) My mom (born 1943) introduced me to sushi. Can't blame generation there.

ddarolfi

4 hours ago

All sushi fish is frozen for some number of days to kill anything. I guess the only risk would come from somebody not doing there job properly, but I'm sure a sushi chef would notice a living worm parasite in the fish they are cutting

timcobb

4 hours ago

Yeah these are microscopic

drabbiticus

3 hours ago

I don't think that the Anisakis species discussed in this article would generally be considered microscopic, as demonstrated by various photos included in the article. The Trypanorhyncha larvae are smaller, but also likely to be visible without microscopy as well, on the basis of the scale I'm inferring from the included photos vs. the muscle striation in the tuna.

pvaldes

2 hours ago

Larvae are tiny and translucent and mold with each jump from one host to the next,

I can assure you by direct experience than the adults colonies could pass for a noodless dish at the first look.

ecshafer

3 hours ago

You can eat Sushi that is cooked, and there are even vegetarian rolls that don't have any fish. Sushi is quite good.

throwawaysoxjje

4 hours ago

It won’t. sushi is flash frozen for exactly this reason

pvaldes

2 hours ago

Assuring than no undesirable worms reach the table, ever, is the main reason of Japanese having developed sushi. Every fish in Japan destined to be served as sushi is ultra frozen first

esseph

2 hours ago

> have never nor will ever eat sushi

You're really missing out. It's probably my favorite food on the planet, lol.

bitwize

2 hours ago

It's not a generational thing, at least not anymore. People older than you were eating sushi back when Western businesses started intensely transacting with the Japanese in the late 20th century (60s, 70s, 80s).

nekusar

4 hours ago

So what makes raw fish safe is that the fish is froze at a temp for a period of time. Its different depending on temp and duration.

But the cold kills the parasites. Its why "sashimi grade fish" is safe.

Rooster61

3 hours ago

> "sashimi grade fish"

This term has no legal definition and is unregulated. A fish caught, cut, and thrown on a plate as sashimi could be called sashimi grade having never touched a freezer to kill off parasites.

pvaldes

2 hours ago

The culprits, in this particular case, are the fishermen.