“Lived to Tell About It!”

June 19, 2014

Question: We lived to tell about it! A few weeks ago while surf fishing, I was fortunate to catch a 6 lb. female cabezon off the Mendocino coast. My wife and I poached the meat and the eggs for a sumptuous meal. It tasted great! But then from five to 13 hours afterward we suffered severe vomiting and diarrhea. Unbeknownst to us and all of my fishing friends, the eggs of a cabezon are toxic, no matter how much they are cooked. Even other mammals will not touch the eggs. Eating the meat is okay. We were hospitalized but are now okay, except for a complete future aversion to cabezon eggs! Have you ever heard of this before? A toxicology doctor is writing a paper about us. Thank you so much and I always look forward to reading your column! (Dale J., Oakland)

Answer: Wow, this was news to me and to most people I mentioned it to. Since receiving your letter, I’ve done some research and found that cabezon eggs are indeed poisonous to humans, as well as many other mammals and birds.

The term for fish roe poisoning is ichthyootoxism. People who have eaten the roe and developed symptoms soon afterwards describe: abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, intense thirst, bitter taste, trouble swallowing, cold sweats, rapid irregular weak pulse, dilated pupils, fainting, chest pain, pale skin, tinnitus, etc. Yikes! In severe cases, muscular cramps, convulsions and coma have occurred. Victims usually recover within five days, but deaths have also been reported.

To most of us, cabezon are a popular game fish and delicious dinner fare. They occur statewide and typically hunker down in rugged rocks and kelp beds in shallow waters less than 100 ft. deep, but may range out to 250 ft. Female cabezon lay their eggs in very shallow water, so the evolution of toxic roe is likely one of their clever adaptations to help protect their eggs from would-be predators. Male cabezon then bravely guard the nests and chase away most threats to their incubating offspring. If the eggs are laid in water too low for the protective dad to guard at low tide, they could be preyed upon by a variety of unsuspecting hungry birds and small mammals.

Famed ichthyologist Dr. Carl Hubbs describes in his article, “Toxicity of the roe of the Cabezon, Scorpaenichthys marmoratus” (California Fish and Game 37: 195-196) that in 1923 he and his wife Laura caught a ripe adult female cabezon and cooked it up for dinner. The two of them ate the roe while Laura’s parents and a young child ate the flesh. Those who consumed the flesh suffered no discomfort, but for Hubbs and his wife, it was another story. He described it as “an unhappy gastronomic experience” and said they “awoke in misery about four hours afterward and were violently ill throughout the rest of the night, with rapidly alternating chills and fever and with frequent vomiting and diarrhea. Both were left very weak in the morning but gradually recovered during the day, with no residual or recurrent symptoms.”

In 1949, a large female cabezon loaded with ripe roe was collected at Scripps Institution Reef. Scientists remembering Hubbs’ experience decided to conduct an experiment to test the toxicity of the roe on 12 rats and two guinea pigs. In addition to their regular food, they were given a cocktail containing the roe mixed with water. Four of the rats and one of the guinea pigs died, and all of the animals exhibited diarrhea and nasal discharge.

Now don’t let the horrors of the toxic symptoms you encountered scare you away from cabezon because they are pretty cool fish. They can grow to more than three feet long, weight more than 25 lbs., and they come in brown, red or green with lots of darker mottling to help with camouflage. Females are larger and usually more greenish while the males are more reddish. Females lay large masses of eggs that may be white, pink, red, maroon or blue-green initially but mature to a more olive color. Cabezon also have smooth skin without scales and they are really fun to catch!

Even better, when filleted, their flesh is usually blue or green but then turns white once cooked. People always ask why their skin and flesh is blue or green and Dr. Milton Love, researcher at U.C. Santa Barbara, wrote in his book, Probably More Than You Want to Know about the Fishes of the Pacific Coast, “The blue color of cabezon flesh is harmless and disappears when the meat is cooked. The color may come from copper-based compounds in the shellfish they consume.” In addition, archeologists have found cabezon remains are common in Native American middens.

Yep, cabezon are cool … just don’t eat their roe!

We were just talking about this at the Bean a few weeks ago. I thought this was one of the first things all RGC fishermen learned.

n 1949, a large female cabezon loaded with ripe roe was collected at Scripps Institution Reef. Scientists remembering Hubbs’ experience decided to conduct an experiment to test the toxicity of the roe on 12 rats and two guinea pigs. In addition to their regular food, they were given a cocktail containing the roe mixed with water. Four of the rats and one of the guinea pigs died, and all of the animals exhibited diarrhea and nasal discharge.

WTF?

Wow some good info thanks hojo

Saw them same thing happen to Japanese couple on a guided trip in Alaska. We hooked a fat hen king salmon and while the guide cleaned it the couple wanted the roe. They threw the roe in a bag of salt and ate the roe. 30mins later the couple threw up the salmon roe while we were halibut fishing.

Saw them same thing happen to Japanese couple on a guided trip in Alaska. We hooked a fat hen king salmon and while the guide cleaned it the couple wanted the roe. They threw the roe in a bag of salt and ate the roe. 30mins later the couple threw up the salmon roe while we were halibut fishing.

Salmon roe is NOT toxic, and is great eating. I am guessing the Japanese couple threw up from sea sickness. I have seen that happen too many times, even without eating salmon roe.

Saw them same thing happen to Japanese couple on a guided trip in Alaska. We hooked a fat hen king salmon and while the guide cleaned it the couple wanted the roe. They threw the roe in a bag of salt and ate the roe. 30mins later the couple threw up the salmon roe while we were halibut fishing.

Salmon roe is NOT toxic, and is great eating. I am guessing the Japanese couple threw up from sea sickness. I have seen that happen too many times, even without eating salmon roe.

thats me" rail hugger"Went with a buddy a few years back out of Emeryville

We're lucky here in NorCal, when I first started ocean fishing I looked it all up, not much in the line of toxic fish here, but Cabezon eggs and innards in general were on the list,

I often tell people not to eat the eggs. Most of the time, I get the "Yeah...right" looks of disbelief.

I often tell people not to eat the eggs. Most of the time, I get the "Yeah...right" looks of disbelief.

Well, they will only need to eat it once to learn their lesson.

We were just talking about this at the Bean a few weeks ago. I thought this was one of the first things all RGC fishermen learned.

Yeah, I thought everybody knew this too! Where did this question come from, Howard?

I never caught a Cabazon until yesterday.  Thanks for the info. I was searching on why his mouth and meat was blue and saw different info re parts being poisonous.  I don't eat row, so that was not an issue.  But my wife is allergic to something in sturgeon and almost died after eating it.  So she is a little skeptical when trying new fish. We just stopped eating fish from bay and delta and seems to have worked. 

I did pan fry some up tonight, so hopefully everything is good.

Thanks for spreading the info. You never know who knows and who doesn't.  I fished my whole life and just started targeting different species. 

I did pan fry some up tonight, so hopefully everything is good.

Forgot to add the before and after pictures.

Looks tasty Duane. 

Nice catch and meal, DG!