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Topic: "Blue" Ling question  (Read 1728 times)

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NotaSeal

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I caught my first blue lingcod the other day. When I filleted it the meat is a light blue. It turned snow white when cooked.

What's the deal with blue lingcod? A separate species? Something in their diet? Thanks.

"Look for it in yourself - it's there, and it has many forms.  "It" is a way to live that benefits you by doing your best to do the right thing by others." LoletaEric


crash

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Fukushima radiation.  Please deliver any more you catch to me for proper disposal.
"SCIENCE SUCKS" - bmb


DG

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Fukushima radiation.  Please deliver any more you catch to me for proper disposal.

Well I am sure you will want some of the colored Cabazon.  They must be toxic. 

-------------------

The color has something to do with bile pigment but not sure why it occurs.  It sounded logical to think it had something to do with their diet but apparently it doesn't. 
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crash

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Fukushima radiation.  Please deliver any more you catch to me for proper disposal.

Well I am sure you will want some of the colored Cabazon.  They must be toxic. 

-------------------

The color has something to do with bile pigment but not sure why it occurs.  It sounded logical to think it had something to do with their diet but apparently it doesn't. 

I remember a theory that sounds as good as any that particular individuals favored a diet of kelp crabs, and the kelp crabs turn them blue through the bile.  Same with cabezon. 
"SCIENCE SUCKS" - bmb


NotaSeal

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Thanks guys. Crash, we're bound to cross paths one of these days. My sister and Brandi are good friends. I look forward to it. Meanwhile if I get another blue ling I'll let you have it and you can deal with the radiation. :smt001
"Look for it in yourself - it's there, and it has many forms.  "It" is a way to live that benefits you by doing your best to do the right thing by others." LoletaEric


BigJim

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http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/17/322920045/red-fish-blue-fish-where-the-fish-flesh-rainbow-comes-from

Quote
Blue lingcod: Though usually white-hued like halibut or cod, lingcod, a West Coast bottom-dwelling species, occasionally looks as though it's been marinated overnight in a tray of Blue No. 2 food dye.

Love writes in his book that a bile pigment called biliverdin seems to be responsible for turning the blood serum of these fish their stunning color — but how this pigment gets into the tissues and flesh of the fish, or why only some lingcod turn this striking shade, is a mystery to biologists.

Lingcod — a member of the greenling family — isn't the only West Coast species to turn up with blue-green meat. Its cousins, the rock greenling and the kelp greenling, are sometimes tinted turquoise, as is an unrelated sculpin called the cabezon, which shares the same habitat.

Worthington says the rare turquoise individuals taste the same as their white brethren. And during cooking, the blue color vanishes entirely. Those lucky enough to encounter a blue fillet at the fish counter may be drawn to it for its aesthetic appeal; Worthington says turquoise lingcod fillets always sell faster than their white counterparts.


 :smt006

Sincerely,

Jim

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NotaSeal

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Thanks Big Jim!!!

 :smt006

"Those lucky enough to encounter a blue fillet at the fish counter may be drawn to it for its aesthetic appeal; Worthington says turquoise lingcod fillets always sell faster than their white counterparts."

I may have to sell my blue ling to Crash......for a premium price. :smt044
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Sin Coast

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It's because they eat so many mollusks & crustaceans, and their blood is copper-based (instead of iron-based like mammals or other fish).
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Mienboy

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It's because of the fukushima nuclear diaster [emoji28]
My biggest worry is that my wife(when I'm dead)will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it


PablitoPescador

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Congrats on a beautiful blue ling, Notaseal. Hell if I know why they're blue. All I know is that you have the most legit name on NCKA and you caught yourself a tasty smurf ling. Don't sell it to Crash unless you get top dollar!


northshorediver

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It's because they eat so many mollusks & crustaceans, and their blood is copper-based (instead of iron-based like mammals or other fish).
I have never cleaned a ling with mollusks or crustaceans?  Cabazone...yes.  I have noticed that they both love octopus.


&

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 :smt012 Blue b/c they wives n girlfriends don't put out :jerk:


BigJim

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It's because they eat so many mollusks & crustaceans, and their blood is copper-based (instead of iron-based like mammals or other fish).

I call BS.

If that was the case or the most believed theory Milton Love would say so, instead of saying that they really don't know how/why some have the biliverdin in their flesh and some don't.

I've taken Lings of the same sex, same size, with same gut contents off the same reef on the same day and one will be bright blue and one won't.

It's a mystery of the universe....just accept it.

 :smt004

 :smt006

Sincerely,

Jim

ps...like Ken said, I've seen a ton of Lings with puss/squid in bellies, but none with crabs or abs like you see in the belly of cabbies.
« Last Edit: August 06, 2015, 09:42:53 AM by BigJim »

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Sin Coast

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Seems like 50% of the lings I catch are barfing up octopi. And octopus are mollusks, right? So they have the same copper-rich protein (hemocyanin) as crabs. They also have the ability to quickly change their pigmentation.

In Love's book "Certainly More Than You Want to Know About The Fishes of The Pacific Coast" he says:
""The flashy hue is caused by high levels of a bile pigment called biliverdin, which causes the blood serum of the fish to be blue-green (or occasionally purplish) and which also finds its way into the muscles. The source of this pigment is unclear, although the most likely source is the breakdown of heme (as in hemoglobin) or other molecules called porphyrins. Why these fish should carry such a high concentration in their blood is unknown. Also possible is that the color comes from the fish's diet, as some invertebrates store bile pigments from the algae they eat. The levels of biliverdin found in cabezon blood serum are higher than those found in humans with jaundice and how these fish cope with normally toxic levels of this material remains a mystery.""

Or it could just be a normal color variation; unaffected by their diet, etc.

To this day, the brightest blue flesh I've seen was on a big rock greenling I caught in Carmel. Sometimes those guys have crazy blue meat!
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BigJim

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Quote
Why these fish should carry such a high concentration in their blood is unknown

Great unsolved mystery of the universe...like alien abductions and anal probing.

 :smt005 :smt044

 :smt008

 :smt006

Sincerely,

Jim

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