• Question: Why is shark meat posionous??

    Asked by to Rebecca, Heather, Ditte, Dave, Ben on 20 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ben White

      Ben White answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      Hi @atoniirose, shark meat is eating by many people around the world. In Greenland they eat rotten shark meat called ‘Hákarl’, this is basically stuck in a whole for months to ferment, dried for several months, and then dug up and eaten- this removes the high levels poisonous urea and trimethylamine oxide.

      However, it has fairly recently been shown that shark meat contains high levels of methyl mercury. Poisoning by consuming too much methyl mercury can cause damage to our central nervous system, brain and kidneys, and in children causes developmental problems. Heavy metals are a real issue when it comes to eating large amounts of large predator fish like tuna and sharks, as it takes our bodies a very long time to remove the methyl mercury; if you keep eating lots regularly it may start to build up and cause damage.

    • Photo: Rebecca Gladstone

      Rebecca Gladstone answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      As Ben said shark meat can contain toxins but there are a number of reason we probably shouldn’t be eating them!

      Some sharks are now endangered because of overfishing for their meat, fins, and cartilage. Shark fins are used in traditional Chinese medicine and shark fin soup is a delicacy in Asia.
      Sharks are at the top of the food chain though and therefore play a big role balancing the ecosystems in the oceans. Sharks live for a long time and don’t produce many young making them vulnerable to overfishing 🙁

      Did you know that sharks are responsible for killing only 5 people per year, where as we kill 8000 sharks per hour!!!!! Here’s more information..
      http://www.upworthy.com/sharks-kill-5-people-per-year-we-kill-over-8000-sharks-per-hour-this-seems-fishy

    • Photo: Dave Baker

      Dave Baker answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      Nice answers guys, I can’t add anything more without going to google!

    • Photo: Ditte Hedegaard

      Ditte Hedegaard answered on 26 Jun 2014:

      Hi,

      As Ben said shakes may store high levels of pee in their tissue, which contains urine acids, also called urea. After eating sharks meat the urea will go into the blood stream and soon reach the kidneys, which will filter the blood like a sieve to get rite of the urea and other waste products and produce pee. Our kidneys are not 100% efficient in filtering the blood, so some urea might not be filtrated and stay in the blood. The more urea there is in the blood, the more difficult it will be for the kidneys to get rite of all of it. Eaten shark meat may cause extra high level of urea in the blood, which might then turn into urine crystals. These can get stock in the kidneys and generate kidney stones or in the joints, where they cause in inflammation also called gout or arthritis. In addition, Urea is made from ammonia, which is extremely toxic for the body, especially for the central nerve system and may cause permanent damage to the brain.

      Many North European countries use fermentation as a preservative for food and love easting it. In Norway they have Rakfisk (fermented trout) and in Sweden they have surstrømning (fermented herring). I’ve been offered Hákarl (fermented shark) on my trips to Greenland and Iceland, but have never tried it. I think it is a bit too extreme to me. I prefer the Danish curry pickled herrings 😀

Comments