What do fish see? An interesting article.

Ken Jones

Administrator
Staff member
#3
I was once having a conversation with some Filipino anglers in San Diego about eating fish and my ideas on what was safe. I was looking at a bucket filled with small fish and asked if they really got much food from those fish. "Of course, we eat the entire fish, nothing is wasted" In discussion they mentioned how good the eyes were, something I had never tried (then or now).There are many different beliefs among anglers.
 

TheFrood

Well-Known Member
#4
I was once having a conversation with some Filipino anglers in San Diego about eating fish and my ideas on what was safe. I was looking at a bucket filled with small fish and asked if they really got much food from those fish. "Of course, we eat the entire fish, nothing is wasted" In discussion they mentioned how good the eyes were, something I had never tried (then or now).There are many different beliefs among anglers.
Typically western cultures waste a significant portion of the creature due to cultural hangups. I'm not calling anyone out or anything because
I suffer from many of the same irrational cultural biases. Typical biases include eyes, tongues, various organs, or even the entire family/genus of
certain species. Much of this may have originated far back in time when it was more difficult to preserve certain parts of the creature, or certain
parts would spoil more rapidly and/or be more prone to carrying illness or toxic elements (ie parasites or if a creature is able to eat toxic plants
then the toxins may build up in one organ or anther while the flesh is safe).

I recommend forcing yourself to try some of the things that you typically would not consider eating. It may not be delicious, but unless you can
find a reason other than "that sounds gross" for avoiding something, perhaps you WILL find a new favorite food. I'll give you an example of
finding something truly delicious while I was in Chengdu (in Sichuan) China. Spicy hotpot is essentially the regional favorite. There are super
spicy restaurants serving hotpot (that looks like a roiling mass of lava from the chili and oil floating on top of the boiling water) everywhere, and
one of the most popular items to eat in hotpot was the throat of a pig. Not sure what part this was, it wasn't meaty but it wasn't fatty or cartilage
either. However, it was absolutely delicious. It soaked up the flavors of the hotpot and mellowed/blended them in a way that none of the other
ingredients could come close to matching.

I still have a borderline phobia about eating brains and nervous system tissue though, but that's a borderline irrational paranoia from back when
Mad Cow disease was rampant in the news...

So my advice is... if you don't think it'll kill you or make you sick, go ahead and force yourself to try it! :)
 

moonshine

Well-Known Member
#5
I have a fond memory of scrambling across jetty boulders with my dad, looking for life at the tideline. He was a boy from Kauai and he taught me that pretty much everything was food. He'd scrape a couple of limpets up with his knife and we'd eat them raw on the jetty boulders.

My mom groused and shook her head in disapproval. I didn't care. It was my early exposure to terrior even before I knew the term existed. The raw limpet tasted like the ocean, a flavor so vivid, I can imagine it all these decades later. A great gift from my old man.

https://homesteadinghippy.wordpress...ets are well known to,took them home to clean.
 

SC McCarty

Well-Known Member
#6
As I read the regulations, limpets can only be taken by hook and line (unlikely), or by hand:
"General (T14 CCR §29.10)
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this article, saltwater mollusks, including octopus, may be taken only on hook and line or with the hands." (pg. 33 of 2024 regs)​
The rock method sounds efficient, but I don't think it's legal.

Steve
 

TheFrood

Well-Known Member
#7
As I read the regulations, limpets can only be taken by hook and line (unlikely), or by hand:
"General (T14 CCR §29.10)
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this article, saltwater mollusks, including octopus, may be taken only on hook and line or with the hands." (pg. 33 of 2024 regs)​
The rock method sounds efficient, but I don't think it's legal.

Steve
I think he was catching limpets in Hawaii... Yeah the CA regs on limpets are pretty dumb. Use a BIG hook with a short little line that you can
use to pry them off the rocks.
 
#9
I use a knife to pry off limpets too otherwise it would be impossible to take limpets. The letter of the law and the intent of the law don't always line up and you need to be able to read between the lines. Using a knife which is in your hand is still using your hands.
P.S
While I was writing this I decided to see if anyone finally decided to get more clarification and low and behold a petition was submitted for a rule change to allow knives to be used to take limpets. It was submitted on 1/16/2025 and FGC is expected to take action on it by 4/16-4/17 2025. The petition starts on page 5 of the linked document.
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=228250.