# Help me identify this fish



## stgil888 (Jan 6, 2007)

Caught this from the beach south of Juno. Any idea what it is? I've been trying to look it up online, but no luck. I apologize for not adding something for scale in the photo. Fish is about 16-18" long and surprisingly thick. Has visible, sharp teeth and was very powerful for its size. 

Please let me know if you have a clue as to what species this guy is.

Are they common?


----------



## Soaked (Jul 21, 2006)

*Pudding Wife Reef Fish*

Check out this link

http://www.acfishing.com/fishid/list.html

Look in the reef fish section for pudding wife

Nice catch!!

Gonna eat it?


----------



## stgil888 (Jan 6, 2007)

Not sure if it's edible. Thanks for your help in identifying it. I've certainly never caught one before. Do you think it's an escaped aquarium pet?


----------



## Soaked (Jul 21, 2006)

I found a few other pics and it says they are found from the keys to the carribean and are a common choice for an aquarium although they get up to 10lbs. Can't find anything about it being edible or not. What did you catch him on?


----------



## fisherkid (Jun 30, 2005)

*Seen a few of them*

down here. I can't remember off hand if theyre edible but I think they are. A fish ID book and something that tells you where and how to catch them, as well as the authors opinion on edibilty is 

VIC DUNAWAY's SPORTFISH OF FLORIDA

Fisherkid:fishing:


----------



## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

Looks like a Parrot fish.


----------



## barty b (Dec 31, 2004)

Yup, Parrot fish,Common in So. FL. I have caught them off bridges in the Keys


----------



## stgil888 (Jan 6, 2007)

Caught it on a whole 6" mullet hooked through the eyes with a long-shank 1/0. Bait was sitting about 90 feet from shore at a drop off. 

I was definitely surprised by the teeth and the strength of the fish. 

I thought for a while that I had hooked into someone's abandoned pet! Before this I'd never caught anything but Jack from that beach. Would have released him but don't think he would have survived the way he was hooked.


----------



## derekxec (Apr 26, 2006)

yeah its a parrot fish....theres a lot of them where we fish


----------



## KT_UMCP (Oct 11, 2005)

Fom it colors it looks like a tropical fish.


----------



## yogai (Oct 21, 2005)

eat it, it'll give you magic powers :--|


----------



## emanuel (Apr 2, 2002)

Ciguatera central. :--| 

I've seen them under the docks in Lauderdale before. Fun to catch but unless you want to chance seeing God real soon, I'd pass on eating them.


----------



## greybeard (Nov 9, 2004)

I wouldn't eat it. They feed on corals mostly and some of those corals are poisonous. That is the main reason that larger barracuda get toxic. They eat the parrot fish and since they have no @##hole, the poison builds up.


----------



## cpn_aaron (Apr 11, 2006)

I agree with the ciguatera warning. The coral and algae diet packs that toxin (a defense by the algae and corals) in the mucles. It doesn't quite have anything to do with a lack of a bunghole though. Squeeze him hard enough ad you'll find out where he craps from. It's just like heavy metals and other toxins, they have the ability to be stored long term in muscle tissue. And they move up the food chain as predators eat all those toxin laced fish.
Pass up the parrotfish and grab a hearty :spam: which


----------



## Singletjeff (Mar 27, 2005)

Dangerous to eat???? Well maybe the ones in th Florida are, however We used to spear them off the reefs in Hawaii. There they are called an Uhu. Gutted, stuffed with Mayo, onion, green pepper, salt, Pepper and Dried Chinese sausage, wrapped in foil and slow cooked on the grill for hours they were incredible...but like I said, then again it could have everything to do with the region.


----------



## emanuel (Apr 2, 2002)

Yeah, you don't want to eat them from these waters. I'm sure they're tasty but I'll just keep eating wahoo for now.


----------



## stgil888 (Jan 6, 2007)

Alright, I won't eat him. Guess he's going to become bait next time I go out.


----------



## cpn_aaron (Apr 11, 2006)

I wonder if it is a regional thing, because people on the west coast catch, keep, and eat baracuda. I was on a party boat tuna fishing for yellowfin one time and those guys were bringing them talking non stop of how good they tasted. All I could think of was how I'd rather not get poisoned. Maybe the toxin is an eastern seaboard/Atlantic problem
From what i've heard form some older FL crackers I've met you can eat baracuda if it's under 2ft because it hasn't had enough time to concentrate the ciguatera toxin. I've never done it, so who knows.


----------



## SeaSalt (Apr 29, 2002)

That's Dory from Finding Nemo!!


----------



## emanuel (Apr 2, 2002)

Yeah, cuda aren't bad eating from what I've heard. You just don't want to get the ones that come up from the tropics. Small resident fish are safe. There's supposed to be a test that you can use to determine it but once again, I'll pass.


----------



## skiffisher (Apr 10, 2005)

*silver spoon????????????*

Some friends that went to Mexico said their guide used a silver spoon inserted into the meat. If the spoon tarnished they would not keep it but if it didnt they would.. They said the BBQ cuda they had cooked on a camp fire by the guide was pretty darn good...

As for the spoon 
MATT


----------



## greybeard (Nov 9, 2004)

you can eat cuda as long as he is under 10 lbs. Personally I won't eat any of them but that is the rule. He isn't big enuff at 10 lbs and under to build up the toxins and I guess things have changed since I was stationed in Hawaii back in the 60's cause they didn't eat parrotfish back then because of the toxins.


----------



## stgil888 (Jan 6, 2007)

I heard the same thing about baracudas recently. I was told that juvenile 'cudas fed on different species of fish (and scavenged) while the adults ate species of fish that fed regularly on sea urchins and scorpion fish (toxic to humans). Because the larger 'cudas are higher up on the food change, they concentrated a greater level of the toxins.


----------



## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

stgil888 said:


> I heard the same thing about baracudas recently. I was told that juvenile 'cudas fed on different species of fish (and scavenged) while the adults ate species of fish that fed regularly on sea urchins and scorpion fish (toxic to humans). Because the larger 'cudas are higher up on the food change, they concentrated a greater level of the toxins.


That's wild. I just watched Anthony Bourdaine on the Travel Channel last night. He went to Ghana and on the shore they were eating cuda. He asked about not being able to eat it but they said that you could ... its no problem. They did not explain the size issue though and the cuda they were eating was about 12-16 inches long


----------



## Singletjeff (Mar 27, 2005)

Cuda was another fish in Hawaii we did eat...pain to clean though...


----------



## derekxec (Apr 26, 2006)

dont eat the parrot fish....cuda is ok if you get the small ones....the big ones you dont want to eat because of the poison


----------

