Gobies, Good or Bad?

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Yuk

Ugly little boogers, ain't they? Caught quite a few that size last summer in Cooks Bay. Started carrying a small knife with me just for dispatching purposes.

The jumbos in Lake erie are full of gobies too, sometime two or three 4" gobies in their stomachs. They spit them up by the dozens in the live well...the dead ones are even more disgusting than the live ones.

My thoughts are that it is not a coincidence that smelt are on the rebound, walleye, real jumbo perch, larger bass etc..... I'm talking lake erie. All fish I have caught there are feeding on gobies. that pic is an adult gobie which is small enough for almost all game fish and nice and soft for them too. I think they become a good food source alternative which has fed the game fish and allowed them to flourish and get large. However I never considered toxins and am also waiting for another downside which may be realized in time. I'm more concerned about asian carp. They are a large predator and will be a real problem

I think about the toxin thing quite a bit since I eat a lot of fish .

Just food for thought

if the toxicity is species mentioned and other is really all that bad/high....shouldn't they die?

As for the comment on the Asian carp. you are somewhat incorrect as this carp feeds primarily on micro organisms......but it's still a real threat to any eco system

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With respect to the toxins running up the food chain I am familiar with it in as much as I learned in Mexico that for the most part your shouldn't eat Barracuda.
In fact i met a man from Chicago who had eaten Barracuda in the caribbean and got very ill when he got home. Interesting was the fact it wasnt til he went to a "travel" doctor that it was properly diagnosed and treated.

the following is from the CDC (US) site:
Ciguatera poisoning or ciguatera is caused by eating contaminated tropical reef fish. Ciguatoxins that cause ciguatera poisoning are actually produced by microscopic sea plants called dinoflagellates. These toxins become progressively concentrated as they move up the food chain from small fish to large fish that eat them, and reach particularly high concentrations in large predatory tropical reef fish. Barracuda are commonly associated with ciguatoxin poisoning, but eating grouper, sea bass, snapper, mullet, and a number of other fish that live in oceans between latitude 35° N and 35° S has caused the disease. These fish are typically caught by sport fishermen on reefs in Hawaii, Guam and other South Pacific islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Ciguatoxin usually causes symptoms within a few minutes to 30 hours after eating contaminated fish, and occasionally it may take up to 6 hours. Common nonspecific symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, excessive sweating, headache, and muscle aches. The sensation of burning or "pins-and-needles," weakness, itching, and dizziness can occur. Patients may experience reversal of temperature sensation in their mouth (hot surfaces feeling cold and cold, hot), unusual taste sensations, nightmares, or hallucinations. Ciguatera poisoning is rarely fatal. Symptoms usually clear in 1 to 4 weeks.

wow this thread is confusing. i was reading this thing literally saying to my self "they're bad kill them", "they're good save them" back and forth like ten times.


as for now i think i'll just comprimise and kill them and then throw them back in the water. this way the MNR is still happy and the fish still get to eat them.