Do Not Mess With Fish 194,

and you thought fish were fun!

well these ones are not, with such a large number of species in danger of  being over-fished and others posing health risks due to their high mercury content, the seafood industry needs alternatives that taste great, are cheap, sustainable and healthy to consume, the oilfish and escolar seem perfect choices, and although they’ve been popping up in restaurants and fish markets around the world, they do have a dark secret, 


if you eat more than say 6 ounces of them you will suffer from explosive, oily, orange diarrhea, apparently, these two snake mackerels cannot metabolize the wax esters naturally found in their diet, the esters, which are very similar to castor or mineral oil give the flesh its distinctive oily texture but also cause gastrointestinal symptoms, Escolar and oilfish flesh has a wax ester content of around 25%, and in large-enough quantities acts as a natural laxative, the condition it causes is called keriorrhea (Greek for “flow of wax”) and is very similar to diarrhea, only the body expels orange oil instead of liquid bowel movement, onset may occur between 30 minutes and 36 hours after the meat is consumed, accompanying symptoms may include stomach cramps, diarrhea, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and anal leakage,


because of the unpleasant side-effects of eating oilfish and escolar, countries like Japan and Italy have banned the importation and sale of these fish, while Canada, Sweden and Denmark require they be sold with warning labels, in the US, the Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers about the dangers of eating oilfish, but lifted the ban in 1992, because the fish is non-toxic and poses no health risk, I wonder if the Food and Drug Administration will issue an embarrassment warning?