I usually to eat fish less than twice a week (it is the only type of flesh I consume at all) and tend to be picky about the source & species of the fish. Too much bad-business & ecological harm is masked by the consumer-driven/petroleum-sustained market, including: carcinogenic farm-raised salmon, mercury poisoning in big fish & general overfishing.
For lunch today, at one of my favorite local restaurants, I decided to enjoy a special dish: a steak of fresh wild Alaskan coho salmon.
The delicate flavor of this particularly fish, the creamy texture of the slightly-seared flesh melting on my palette & the light citrus high-note of the glaze, all came together to produce one of the most pleasurable salmon experiences in recent memory.
That was until midway through the luscious, tender cut, I found a small, transparent-white worm wriggling around in the flesh! Had I eaten one already? I immediately took my plate into the kitchen and showed the head chef my discovery.
He quickly apologized and explained that even if I'd eaten any of them, I would probably be fine. Fortunately, this does seem to be the case:
Most of these parasites cannot adapt to human hosts; quite frequently, if an infected fish is eaten, the parasites are simply digested with no ill effects.
Anyway, for now fish is off my list; I may still occasionally indulge but with even greater caution.
If you eat fish regularly, I highly recommend referring to a resource such as Best & Worst Seafood Choices or The Fish List to guide your choices.
Update: it's been eighteen-hours since the incident, and I have experienced no ill effects!
Update #2: the head chef of the undisclosed restaurant let me know that he notified his supplier, and they refunded his money for the salmon, and he promptly through it all in the trash.
Good grief - I could have lived the rest of my life without knowing that! I moved to Alaska last year, and this past weekend I caught my first silver salmon. When I went to clean it, there were noodle like worms in it. I wanted to throw it away, my friend said that it was safe as long as I cooked it...
This happened to us on our Vacation.. At a little town called Gold Beach, Or. Wife and I went to a real fancy place and they had a Salmon dish special. It was real good. Cooked with spices I've never tasted before. But the last little bit, I flaked off a little (as salmon type meat flakes) and between the flakes was a little WORM about an inch and a quarter long and pointed on both ends.
We got a free dinner... big deal!... Just how many if any did I eat? Crap!
This one was dead. They die at 140 degrees or after 7 days of freezing. They live in the intestines of the salmon and when the salmon dies, migrate to the flesh that we like to eat.
It's a Nematode!
I appreciate the info on your site. Thanks