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According to this question freshwater fish should not be used in Ceviche--why not?

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2 Answers 2

up vote 18 down vote accepted

You should never eat freshwater fish in raw preparations. Freshwater fish are far more likely to have nasty parasites such as the lung fluke, that can only be killed by cooking. There is a slew of other nasty beasts that can be harmful if not killed.

Unless you want to end up on an episode of Monsters Inside Me, stay away.

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Ewwww, now I wish I hadn't asked the question! –  Jay Sep 14 '10 at 17:07
Also, because it lives part of its life in freshwater, Salmon must be frozen for a period of time (which depends on temperature) before being consumed raw. Usually it is flash-frozen, so the texture is not affected. –  Steve Jun 13 '13 at 3:55

In addition to hobodaves fine answer, freshwater fish usually contains a lot more mercury and other very unhelathy substances caused by human pollution. Some doctors recommend you to only eat freshwater fish twice a month.

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The higher mercury level is a concern even for cooked fish. It doesn't go away when cooking, unfortunately. –  hobodave Sep 14 '10 at 6:52
Wow, I had no idea. Does the mercury content apply to farm-raised fish? I would guess trout caught from a high mountain lake would be safer from mercury, or is that just wishful thinking... –  Jay Sep 14 '10 at 17:05
@Jay: Mercury usually isn't a concern in farm raised fish, though you do have to worry about PCBs. Mercury pollution is a man made problem, so unless the high mountain lake is polluted it would be safer. –  hobodave Sep 14 '10 at 19:17
I hope I didn't make it sound like cooking it would make the mercury level go away. If so, sorry, it doesn't. –  Lars Andren Jan 5 '11 at 6:39
This doesn't really seem to have anything to do with making ceviche; it's just a general concern with freshwater fish. –  Jefromi Jun 11 '13 at 18:40

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