Article on Goliath Grouper

[tomclark]

6 feet - 300 lbs and we name them.

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/videos-visuals/swimming-with-super-grouper/

[Lindenmeier-Man]

I like fish, I use to name them too.. All had the same name, dinner ! I had no idea that they almost went out from over fishing. My dad broke me from fishing when I was young. He had 4 -100 hook trot lines that he thought had to be run three times a day..The groupers must of had another name too, “Tasty” Anyway I’m glad they’ve made a come back... Good read.. JJ

[redrocks]

Hi

Good read Tom . Those are cool fish.. and they name them....awww

[tomclark]

Goliaths are supposedly good tasting when they are small/young but the bigger they get the more worms they get (like ALL grouper.....better check those fillets by holding them up to the light!) and the more heavy metal contamination they have. As article states they are only catch and release. Catch and release hurts the fish, especially fish pulled from depth. I don't target Goliaths or sharks. We can't eat any more King Mackeral due to the contamination of the upper predators.

[Lindenmeier-Man]

The worm thing makes my stomach go bad... Yuk !

[redrocks]

Ya man mercury and all the poisons in fish these days is not good....I like eating fish...what I buy is farm raised salmon. ..I don't know if it's any safer

[tomclark]

A real wake-up call on the problem of mercury contamination. The bio-available mercury in the food chain is the bad stuff. Nervous system damage. You can detox naturally several ways you gotta look it up.

https://www.epa.gov/fish-tech

List for individual states: They make you dig DEEP to get the information from some states. I had trouble looking at Utah fish advisories and saw waterfowl advisories listed and had to look deeper in the links to find the actual fish advisories, much of which in that state is Arsenic.

https://fishadvisoryonline.epa.gov/Contacts.aspx

Check your state you will be surprised. You can check fresh or saltwater species' advisories. All the freshwater fish in FL have advisories....FloriDuh. This is Florida all coastal marine species.... 2 HERRING per week if you are not of childbearing age or a youngster! (ONE if you are..)
FL DO NOT EAT: Cobia, BlackfinTuna, King Mackeral, Little Tunny and any Shark Oh man I miss smoked king macks, fresh Blackfin and cobia.

https://dchpexternalapps.doh.state.fl.us/fishadvisory/

[Lindenmeier-Man]

It’s just sad Tom. Looks like half the lakes here in Texas, have several heavy medals.. Lake Alan Henry the newest lake that city of Lubbock dammed up for city water,well let’s just say don’t eat the fish ..I know what happened, there were two oil wells that they cemented off. The engineers forgot to have the slush pits excuvated and hauled away. Drilling oil wells, they use to put chromate in the pits. It was suppose to coat the drill tools and make them last longer. I never thought it helped in any way,shape,form,or fashion..Now, they pump it into Lubbock city water..I’m glad I have my private water well. It does have high calcium and magnesium .. I’ve drank it all my life..I guess that’s what is wrong with me... JJ

[Tam]

I loved watching a special on that fish . It’s so sad I grew up eating fish and now with all the toxins . It’s gotten so expensive a steak is cheaper .
They have a Vietnamese corn feed catfish here but you have to be so careful . We would pull lobsters out diving and now they have some weird problem .
Here is one for ya . We have a little secret cove that use to be full of turtles . Now it’s a run off of streets that were never here before . Car wash , wax it all goes there and I tell people no one cares . Well 3 turtles with just 3 legs now .

[tomclark]

Turtles are probably my "Totem Animal". It's real sad to hear that development ruined one of theirs and yours special spots. I don't trust farm raised fish but if I knew that they were raised clean I would eat a lot of em. Farmed shrimp are awful at least the ones I've had. Maybe it's me...but even beef and chicken doesn't taste as good...it's either my taster or something is wrong. I was in Mexico a while back and I couldn't believe how different (BETTER) the meat and vegetables tasted and it wasn't just the spices. Yes, better raised/tasting beef and chicken are available but not at Publix. I am jealous of some of you who live in places where you can have or get these locally. Jealous of deer and game hunters for their food, too LOLOL

[Kentucky point]

Dinner!!!

Seriously, that is a monster fish...

[Tam]

Tom , it’s so hard for me to eat beef now . It tastes like watered down something . No hormones in deer and the taste is supurb . Want to dig a big pond by a spring and throw some bass in there . Test the water and see if it’s safe to eat them . Get the organic going in the greenhouse and I’ll be rocking. Wayne is enviled in waste water , fresh water plants and fuel so he knows the toxin levels . Long story our well water started to get that sulfur tang to it . Get a purifier for under the sink but I found a small water treatment plant lol you can install on your property . He grabbed the phone out of my hand and started drawing up prints . Well looks like that problem will be solved .

[tomclark]

Brunhilda with Goliath. I think he was hitting on her. He had the spots going on.

[clovisoid]

Give it another 20 years and people will figure out how to refine mercury from fish. Then the Chinese fishing boats will target everything.

Goliath groupers are awesome to see and once they get to size really aren't scared of anything. My son still has nightmares from a snorkeling trip in the Bahamas when he was a kid. A big 7 footer, well known to tour operators, swallowed a small sea turtle that got a little too close right in front of him.

[sailorjoe]

Interesting article with great photos. The first time I ever saw Goliath Grouper was when anchored in front of Ft. Jefferson at Loggerhead Key in the Dry Tortugas Islands. As you know, Tom, but most non Floridians probably don't, those islands are located about 45 miles west of Key West. After I was anchored about a day in not more than 20 feet of clear water, I looked down and saw under the boat two of these fish just hanging out in mid water. They were huge. Over the years I saw a few more. Regarding dangers from eating contaminated fish. The most immediate danger is getting ciguatera from eating large specimens of reef fish which includes grouper, barracuda and others. It seems like the older these fish get the more they concentrate the toxin with the top end predators concentrating the most. Apparently it doesn't hurt them but it can make a person extremely sick. To get mercury poisoning from fish one has to eat quite a bit of it over a period of time. Whereas with one meal of a ciguatera fish can put you down real quick. I never had it but I've friends who have and they say it is super bad with a long recovery period.