As these pictures of blotchy anthias at a seafood marke can attest, no matter how beautiful a fish looks they are still very yummy to eat. And why shouldn’t they be? Humans have been eating reef fish for much longer than they have been keeping them alive for ornament and I don’t know about you but I’d rather eat a big frying pan size Naso tang than some greasy browned out Tilapia. In history the rate of reef fish consumption has been sustainable but with growing populations and affluence on the rise in many developing nations, the numbers of reef fish have been in steady decline around the world. I personally spent an entire summer reef diving in Puerto Rico without seeing many fish larger than a hamlet or wrasse, let alone any fish large enough to make a meal out of. The decline in edible reef fish is a worldwide problem which simply boils down to too many of us and not enough of them. The threat is especially alarming with the largest, tastiest top level predators, lions of the sea like groupers which are being targeted during their spawning aggregations. So not only are we taking too many fish out, the very moment they get together to make some more tasty fish for us to eat we catch the largest most reproductive individuals and totally jack up their reproductive cycle. Nice. Do us and the environment a favor, mmk? Next time you order some tasty, exotic fish at a Seafood restaurant just take a moment to consider if your selection of the Sea Bass du jour is a sustainable choice. (Hint: It probably isn’t!) For more information hit the read link, image by Vincent Thian.Â
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