Question

People who have eaten fish containing ciguatoxin can become very ill. Suggest why eating carnivorous fish is more likely to make you ill than eating herbivorous fish.

Answer 1

Fish that are carnivorous, or meat-eating, are more likely to contain harmful substances such as ciguatoxin because they feed on other fish that may have already accumulated the toxin. Herbivorous fish, on the other hand, feed on plant matter and are less likely to have accumulated harmful substances from their diet. This is because toxins tend to accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals, and carnivorous fish have a higher fat content than herbivorous fish. Additionally, carnivorous fish are typically higher up on the food chain, which means that they may have eaten several other fish that have accumulated toxins, further increasing the concentration of toxins in their tissues.

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