There have been reports of people contracting ciguatera poisoning from it and is prone to many parasites including tape worm, gill worm and round worm, which can be rather off putting. The worms can be found near the tail and this section can be removed when bleeding the fish. It is said that the best policy is to remove the tail while the fish is alive in order to drain the blood, as when the heart stops pumping the blood will not drain and make the flesh unpalatable. It should be eaten the same day.

If you have made it this far and still want to eat it, you must remove the skin and the fat first as they taste lousy. Use it in any recipes requiring strongly flavoured fish, such as curries, spicy Carribean grill rubs, Puttanesca style sauces, soups etc. It can also be smoked. Some love it – other’s hate it – some soak it in milk or marinade it before cooking, in an effort to neutralise the flavour, some wouldn’t feed it to a cat.

Thank Jai