Like Sushi?
 

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A biologist walks into a sushi bar and orders some tuna. What does he get? Escolar, a nasty fish with buttery flesh that can cause bizarre episodes of diarrhea, accompanied by a waxy intestinal discharge.

It’s not a joke. It happened five times to the same scientists during a brief research project. The results of that study were published Wednesday in PLOS One.

“A piece of tuna sushi has the potential to be an endangered species, a fraud or a health hazard,” wrote the authors. “All three of these cases were uncovered in this study.”

The team of researchers from Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History ordered tuna from 31 sushi restaurants and then used genetic tests to determine the species of fishes in those dishes. More than half of those eateries misrepresented, or couldn’t clarify the type of fish they were mongering. Several were selling endangered southern bluefin tuna.

Although their results were shocking, exposing sloppy sushi joints wasn’t their main goal. The scientists were trying to improve on a new species-identification technique, called DNA barcoding. A coalition of labs has been collecting fish, reading their genes and uploading the information to a database called FISH-BOL.

Their goal is to build a catalog of every fish species on earth so that anyone with a handheld DNA reader could definitively identify fish within minutes. Wildlife officials could use that technology to spot-check fish markets, and fine people who are selling protected species.

Liberated from Sushi DNA Tests Reveal Fraud | Wired Science | Wired.com

Don't ruin it for me. I love sushi. Knock on wood, I have yet to encounter a nasty dinner. I do like the tuna, though.

wtf? hole in the wall sushi joint or something?

:iagree:

oh damn...

I like sushi but don't like raw tuna much.. hahah

So far, I haven't found a "sushi" that I liked. The seaweed's texture doesn't agree with me, and the only meat I've enjoyed in the sushi rolls I've eaten was the crab meat.

If you like shrimp you can always try something that has shrimp tempura. It's a fried shrimp. Also the eel is usually pretty good too. At least those are the things I really like.

If you like Mercury with your food, I highly recommend sushi. :tup:

That's how I get all my mercury :tup:

You can't get Mercury from eating Tuna!
Crabs maybe but not Mercury..smells cheesy. lol

Somebody didn't get the snatch joke! in there....

When I saw crabs, I definitely got it. Just posting something informative :D

Good thing I rarely eat tuna at a sushi bar.

Unagi... now that's a different story.