# Is any animal life TRULY inedible for humans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 24, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251 "2008-11-24T15:09:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/21 "2008-11-25T03:19:41Z")
Deep sea squid are reputedly full of ammonia so eating them is probably not a good idea. > [@](#): > > Buoyant and untasty: One of the more unusual aspects of giant squid (as well as some other species of large squid) is their reliance upon the low density of ammonia in relation to seawater to maintain neutral buoyancy in their natural environment, as they lack the gas-filled swim bladder that fish use for this function; instead, they use ammonia (in the form of ammonium chloride) in the fluid of their flesh throughout their bodies, making it taste not unlike salmiakki. This makes the giant squid unattractive for general human consumption, although sperm whales seem to be attracted by (or are at least tolerant of) its taste. See[ANIMALS AND FISH POISONOUS TO EAT](http://http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/survival/guide/plantsanimals/animals/animals_08.html) > [@](#): > > Many fish living in reefs near shore or in lagoons and estuaries are poisonous to eat, though some are only seasonally dangerous. The majority are tropical fish; however, be wary of eating any unidentifiable fish wherever you are. Some predatory fish, such as barracuda and snapper, may become toxic if the fish they feed on in shallow waters are poisonous. The most poisonous types appear to have parrotlike beaks and hard, shell-like skins with spines and often can inflate their bodies like balloons. However, at certain times of the year, indigenous populations consider the puffer a delicacy. > > Blowfish > Blowfish or puffer (Tetraodontidae species) are more tolerant of cold water. You find them along tropical and temperate coasts worldwide, even in some of the rivers of Southeast Asia and Africa. Stout-bodied and round, many of these fish have short spines and can inflate themselves into a ball when alarmed or agitated. Their blood, liver and gonads are so toxic that as little as 28 milligrams (1 ounce) can be fatal. These fish vary in color and size, growing up to 75 centimeters in length. > > Triggerfish > The triggerfish (Balistidae species) occur in great variety, mostly in tropical seas. They are deep-bodied and compressed, resembling a seagoing pancake up to 60 centimeters in length, with large, sharp dorsal spines. Avoid them all, as many have poisonous flesh. > > Barracuda > Although most people avoid them because of their ferocity, they occasionally eat barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda). These predators of mostly tropical seas can reach almost 1.5 meters in length and have attacked humans without provocation. They occasionally carry the poison ciguatera in their flesh, making them deadly if consumed. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/22 "2008-11-25T04:08:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I can personally attest that bear meat is tasty: A friend of my grandfather’s once killed one in self-defense, and shared the meat. A bit on the greasy side, but good. The primary reason that humans don’t eat carnivores (much) isn’t flavor, but cost: It would take a lot of pounds of meat to raise each pound of meat. Why not just eat whatever you’re feeding the carnivore, yourself? That describes salmon. Huge amounts of sardines and other small, tasty fish are [caught and ground into meal to feed farmed salmon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon#Aquaculture). One writer on food described it as the equivalent of feeding cows and pigs to lions to make lionburger. ---
**Author:** ![seodoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@seodoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seodoa)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/23 "2008-11-25T05:20:02Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > That describes salmon. Huge amounts of sardines and other small, tasty fish are [caught and ground into meal to feed farmed salmon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon#Aquaculture). One writer on food described it as the equivalent of feeding cows and pigs to lions to make lionburger. And if fresh ground lionburger tasted anywhere near as tasty (and was as reasonably-priced) as a fresh salmon filet, I’d probably have it for dinner two times a week, too. I’m (not really) serious, does anybody know if lionburger is worth the expense? Could it perhaps become the new food-that-isn’t-really-_that_-good-but-we-eat-anyway-because-it-costs-bunches? I’d love for somebody to stick it to the lobster industry. 😃 ETA: Sardines are tasty, too. I’m more than happy to share them with my salmon dinner. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/24 "2008-11-25T07:29:06Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I’ve never eaten it but I’ve read about it. I think it’s just the thought of the risk, more so than the taste pe se. Definitely not for the risk. First, if it’s been prepared by a professional the risk is essentially near zero. It’s less than that of getting salmonella or listeria. When people talk about the risk of eating fugu, they always quote badly dated data from times when more people were fishing it and preparing it on their own. Farmed fugu doesn’t have any toxin at all. It’s fairly good tasting fish, somewhat akin to monkfish when simmered. In nicer supermarkets you can often find in [sashimi](http://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/@0_mall/hata-tora/cabinet/img55500155.jpg), where it’s cut into almost paper-thin slices. Now, it appears to be true that in certain restaurants, some parts with trace amounts of toxin are served intentionally for its tongue-numbing effect. However, this is not as common as people would have you believe. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/25 "2008-11-25T14:54:24Z")
Does it strike anyone that _wanting_ your tongue numbed is diametrically opposed to the main reason we want carefully prepared food instead of subsisting on PeopleChow? ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/26 "2008-11-25T15:57:40Z")
[Polar Bear Liver](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinol) The rest of the animal is fine though. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/27 "2008-11-25T16:00:47Z")
I would think cane toads would be inedible? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/28 "2008-11-25T16:11:37Z")
> [@seodoa](#): > > I’m (not really) serious, does anybody know if lionburger is worth the expense? I doubt it. The thing is, every time you go up a link in the food chain you lose a lot of efficiency. I don’t recall the exact numbers, but it takes a lot more than a pound of grass to make a pound of cow or antelope; and a lot more than a pound of antelope to make a pound of lion. So basically, I’d expect hypothetical “lion ranches” to produce lion meat that’s as much more expensive than beef as beef is more expensive than grass. That had better be a damned good lionburger. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Mahma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Joe\_Mahma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Mahma)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/29 "2008-11-25T16:12:08Z")
**astro** , regarging blowfish, I believe 1 ounce is 28.35 grams, not 28 milligrams. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/30 "2008-11-25T18:22:09Z")
You would not want to try eat a Capercaillie, although they are the largest member of the grouse family they make a very unpleasant meal. They eat a lot of young pine shoots, and their flesh has a very strong taint of turpentine, even a hungry winter fox will turn its nose away from taking one. The fox would have to be desperate to eat one. > **[Tetrao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capercaillie)** > > Tetrao urogalloides > Tetrao urogallus > Tetrao is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Feathers from the bird were used to create the characteristic hat of the bersaglieri, an Italian ace infantry formation. > The genus Tetrao was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The genus name is the Latin word for a game bird, probably a black grouse. The black grouse was... ---
**Author:** ![SharkB8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@SharkB8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SharkB8)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/31 "2008-11-25T19:27:48Z")
[Portuguese men-o-war](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Man_o'_War)? The cnidarian, not the cocktail. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/32 "2008-11-25T20:12:19Z")
We rarely ever eat [_accelerati incredibilis_.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tobeepornottobeep.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/33 "2008-11-25T20:18:14Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > We rarely ever eat [_accelerati incredibilis_.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tobeepornottobeep.jpg) To bee porn Otto beep? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/34 "2008-11-25T21:51:58Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I doubt it. The thing is, every time you go up a link in the food chain you lose a lot of efficiency. I don’t recall the exact numbers, but it takes a lot more than a pound of grass to make a pound of cow or antelope; and a lot more than a pound of antelope to make a pound of lion. So basically, I’d expect hypothetical “lion ranches” to produce lion meat that’s as much more expensive than beef as beef is more expensive than grass. Chicken is so cheap because raising chickens is so efficient. 2 pounds of feed make one pound of chicken. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/35 "2008-11-25T22:11:46Z")
So to slightly hijack this, in a lot of science fiction there is a premise that alien life forms would be toxic/inedible by nature. Most of the examples here are only inedible because they are laced with things we can’t eat, but the underlying meat itself would seem to be digestable. Are there any life forms on earth that are inedible, not because they have toxins/poisons/etc in them, but because their basic biochemistry is incompatible with our own? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/36 "2008-11-25T23:08:18Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > Or just ask the Chinese pussy-munchers. Chinese pussy can be delicious if cleaned properly before eating. I must say it’s not terribly filling, though. Still I’d have it every night if I could. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/37 "2008-11-25T23:41:21Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > I would think cane toads would be inedible? 😕 I remember reading some where that licking them causes hallucinations. The starfish thing I’m not so sure. Chocolate or regular? ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/38 "2008-11-25T23:42:25Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Chinese pussy can be delicious if cleaned properly before eating. I must say it’s not terribly filling, though. Still I’d have it every night if I could. As long as it’s not cold. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/39 "2008-11-26T08:05:40Z")
> [@seodoa](#): > > does anybody know if lionburger is worth the expense? I can’t speak to the taste, or the economics, but there is one thing I think is worth mentioning: having fought some cowboys back in my wild youth, I don’t recommend it. Those fellas tend to be kinda tough. I leave it as an exercise for the interested student to work out just how tough a guy who works on a lion ranch would have to be. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251/40 "2008-11-26T09:10:56Z")
> [@3trew](#): > > I leave it as an exercise for the interested student to work out just how tough a guy who works on a lion ranch would have to be. [This tough](http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e12/kris1071/siegfried_roy_tiger_1_r.jpg). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-any-animal-life-truly-inedible-for-humans/474251.md?page=3)