# Barracuda.



## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Has anyone eaten it?

The Calamari thread reminded me that many years ago, mom brought a frozen one home & when she pulled it out, it bit her!
Some kind of muscle reaction.


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## John Smith_inFL (Jun 15, 2018)

she probably snagged a finger on a tooth, I don't think a frozen fish has the capacity to snap at anyone.
when I was in the Navy stationed in Key West, Cuba and Puerto Rico, I ate a lot of barracuda that came from open ocean. the ones that are in shallow water eat other fish that are often poisonous from eating the corals.
I would stay away from barracuda if I did not know the fisherman that caught it personally.
I have never seen it for sale in any store in all of my travels, fresh or frozen. it is not a preferred table fish. 
I am speaking of the East Coast and the Caribbean - I don't know what you guys do "over there".


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

John Smith_inFL said:


> she probably snagged a finger on a tooth, I don't think a frozen fish has the capacity to snap at anyone.
> when I was in the Navy stationed in Key West, Cuba and Puerto Rico, I ate a lot of barracuda that came from open ocean. the ones that are in shallow water eat other fish that are often poisonous from eating the corals.
> I would stay away from barracuda if I did not know the fisherman that caught it personally.
> I have never seen it for sale in any store in all of my travels, fresh or frozen. it is not a preferred table fish.


I saw it! I was little. Maybe something in defrosting it. I can see a barracuda having those powerful jaws clenched or open. Frozen rigor?
Yes, I think it's one of the fish that bio-magnifies toxins by eating lots of little fish with them.

How did it taste? Like chicken? Only joking about the last part. My dad had a stint as a hobo as a teen & said pretty much everything they cooked tasted like chicken. 😊

This is all I could find -


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Sounds wonderful, but, maybe with another fish.









Fried Barracuda with Fried Plantains and Salad


Get Fried Barracuda with Fried Plantains and Salad Recipe from Cooking Channel




www.cookingchanneltv.com


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

In the Keys we’d see barracuda on occasion. Always motionless, just hanging out.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Barracuda flesh is implicated in some kinds of poisoning from eating reef fish






Ciguatera fish poisoning - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

DoomsDave said:


> Barracuda flesh is implicated in some kinds of poisoning from eating reef fish
> 
> 
> 
> ...


same reason I wouldn’t eat shark. Because of what they eat.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Nik333 said:


> I saw it! I was little. Maybe something in defrosting it. I can see a barracuda having those powerful jaws clenched or open. Frozen rigor?
> Yes, I think it's one of the fish that bio-magnifies toxins by eating lots of little fish with them.
> 
> How did it taste? Like chicken? Only joking about the last part. My dad had a stint as a hobo as a teen & said pretty much everything they cooked tasted like chicken. 😊
> ...


Oh. Heck

the cult of the ‘Cuda


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## Old Thomas (Nov 28, 2019)

I was thinking about a Plymouth.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

I wasn't trying to advocate eating it, I was wondering what it tasted like.
When I was snorkeling in the Caribbean, maybe even the time I saw the school of squid, I could hear my girlfriend telling her husband there was a barracuda in the lagoon with me. They were on the big sailboat. She didn't tell me, I just have very good hearing!
I lived in Hawaii and there was always the risk of tiger sharks, so I just swam back to the sailboat with as little movement as I could so he wouldn't think I was a fish in distress. That's the life!🦑🦈🌴🌊


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## John Smith_inFL (Jun 15, 2018)

Nik - yes, back to the original question:
the ones I ate were over 4 feet long. very white flesh, lots of bones. cut into big chunks.
the "most common" way of cooking where I was at, was on an open charcoal grill on aluminum foil with the normal aromatics that go with Caribbean style cooking prepared by Jamaicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, etc.
it's "the Islands", Mon we eat everything down there. (and I was considered "a local" - not a tourist).


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

Nothing in that size range but we have pickerel and a few northern Pike, selected location I don't fish. But chain pickerel are abundant. Been a long tome but we used to eat them despite all of the bones. I have recently read instruction on how to remove those bones, probably easier on a bigger fish and suspect a cuda to be similar. That if anyone ever tries to eat one.

Bud


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## BayouRunner (Feb 5, 2016)

We use to catch them years ago. Probably haven’t caught one in 20 years. We always caught the big ones so we tossed them back. Would catch them around the oil rigs offshore. Fun to catch. But we were always told you could only eat the small ones so I went with that. Would catch a lot of king mackerel at the same time. Our target fish were red and mangrove snapper. And cobia we called them lemon fish. Every once in a while we would catch a wahoo which was always a prize. Don’t remember offhand if we ever ate any barracuda


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## J. V. (Jun 1, 2007)

I worked on a drift fishing boat out of Sunny Isles Fl. and spent my childhood and a good part of my years in Key West. I am from Miami.
Back in those days people did eat barracuda. But only the small ones. I remember mercury being the issue?
I have eaten it and I can tell you I will only eat a fresh caught that very day fish. They are very strong and have a distinct odor. Once you have smelled it, you will not forget it. Its not really offending, but something you will remember. 
Like I said I will eat it if it just was pulled from the water. Otherwise no way and I would need to be very hungry and have a cold beer to wash it down with...lol

As far as diving with them. They are curious especially if you are diving somewhere they are common. They get used to divers and will approach. They can grow quite large and I understand 6 foot is about it.
There was one at _John Pennekamp State Park_ located in Key Largo that was a divers favorite. Would follow you around the whole dive. Same fish, same spot for years.


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## BayouRunner (Feb 5, 2016)

That’s what I was told as well. Mercury was the issue as to why you didn’t want to eat. 


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## CosmicMiami (Feb 2, 2013)

Nik333 said:


> Has anyone eaten it?


I have. When I lived in Islamorada (Florida Keys), we would catch small ones on the grass flats using a simple tube lure. It is just a 6" or so piece of brightly colored surgical tubing (pink, green, orange, bright blue, etc) with a treble hook on the end. They are available at the tackle shops. I was told that it is better to eat the smaller ones around 24"-30".

I've been told the threat of ciguatera is from the larger barracuda found on the reefs. You can also contract ciguatera from every food fish found on the reef to include snapper, grouper, hogfish, mackerel, etc.

The Bahamians have a way of detecting ciguatera. If the flies land on the fish as it sits on the dock, you're good. Otherwise, use it as bait or chum. The flies don't want ciguatera either! LOL

I found 'cuda to be a tasty fish. It is a white, firm, fleshy fish with decent flavor. Ciguatera is not killed by heat so even though I never did, I would also consider using it for ceviche.

Good luck.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

It just occurred to me, while reading the posts that we never fished while on this sailboat/dive trip. That's unusual, especially for divers not to take fish/seafood. My friend's husband was a Marine Biologist and that was probably why. Too much risk of Ciguateria. It was about 1989.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

J. V. said:


> There was one at _John Pennekamp State Park_ located in Key Largo that was a divers favorite. Would follow you around the whole dive. Same fish, same spot for years.


I bet the divers stirred up the little fish & the barracuda would catch one darting away.


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## CosmicMiami (Feb 2, 2013)

Nik333 said:


> It just occurred to me, while reading the posts that we never fished while on this sailboat/dive trip.


I've been on several sailing trips in the Bahamas and Caribbean. While dragging a lure under sail, we caught a few "trash" fish. When I say trash fish, I mean something that we would have tossed back. But hey, fresh fish is fresh fish. They eat ballyhoo and flying fish in the Bahamas. We would call those bait back home. LOL


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## CosmicMiami (Feb 2, 2013)

Nik333 said:


> I bet the divers stirred up the little fish & the barracuda would catch one darting away.


An old friend, Spencer Slate, is famous for feeding a barracuda while diving.


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## John Smith_inFL (Jun 15, 2018)

and for those that don't like the ocean, the fresh water barracuda can also be found in lakes and rivers.


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

We ate them all the time.
Yes there was the risk of ciguatera poisoning but none of us have ever been hit. I would say it had to do with where we caught it and how big the fish was. 
We always caught our fish in the north side of the island as opposed to the south side where all the commercial boat traffic operated, ergo less pollutants in the the water. We also tended to avoid very large ones based on the logic that the bigger the fish the more toxins it was liable to have absorb in its lifetime.


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## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

We used to dive with them all the time in the clear Gulf. Got literally a few feet away from them, no problem whatsoever, but avoided eating them do to the ciguatera poison potential.


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