Endangered or edible? Netizens shocked to see endangered Parrotfish sold in market

 

ANY HEALTH enthusiast can attest to the fact that you can’t go wrong, having fish in your diet. But if said fish happens to be a species on the endangered list, we are not so certain.

After all, how many Malaysians can say that they have taken a bite from the flesh of a Parrotfish.

Take it from a recent post on X which highlighted a butchered Parrotfish laying among the chunks of fish meat that we are more familiar with. This appears to be in a market in an unidentified location. 

From hindsight it looks like nothing more than a quirky meat for your cooking until netizen @itskemboja pointed out that the animal is actually endangered. She even suggested that netizens report this discovery to the authorities.

But that didn’t stop @MohamadFah10599 from wondering if it would taste good with curry. More frightening was @AdmFairuz who said the fish tasted like crab meat, which could mean only one thing. Then there was @kymnasyrah injecting some comedy by asking if the Parrot Fish tastes like a bird or a fish.

There were conflicting statements, where some netizens said it tasted like a turtle while another mentioned fried chicken. 

“Have you tasted Paddle Pop?” said @play3r_two who was making reference to the ice cream which appears to have the same colour as the flesh of the Parrotfish.

On another note, news portal Twentytwo13 in an article dated 2022 reached out to the  Department of Fisheries following a complaint by a reader who noticed that Parrotfish were being sold at a hypermarket in Jalan Klang Lama, Kuala Lumpur. The species was also being sold on e-commerce platforms.

Malaysia does not enforce a nationwide prohibition on harvesting Parrotfish, unlike certain regions such as parts of the Caribbean where restrictions are in place, according to Saupi Ismail, director of a National Marine Park research centre.

He referred to findings from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, which indicate that Parrotfish and surgeonfish populations worldwide are generally considered to face a low risk of extinction.

Saupi explained that herbivorous reef species, including parrotfish, surgeonfish and rabbitfish, are not currently viewed as needing broad protection in Malaysia, as most local populations are not regarded as threatened.

However, he noted that some larger species are of concern. The Greenback Parrotfish (Scarus trispinosus) is classified as endangered, while the Bumphead Parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) is listed as vulnerable. Both species are long-lived, grow to large sizes, and have seen sharp population declines due to heavy fishing pressure. —Focus Malaysia