# Why do \_still\_ smell like salmon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452 "2010-06-25T04:33:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/1 "2010-06-25T04:33:25Z")
I take the semi-transparent capsules filled with goo called Lovaza, essentially Omega-3 fish oil. I’ve been taking them for years 3x a day. One day a capsule half broke, and I used it anyway to feel the goo and to taste it (tasted like fish oil). Three days, four showers, and a total moratorium on the capsules later, I can still smell, softly faintly, here and then gone, emanating from me an evanescent salmon smell. My wife says she can’t smell a thing. Effect like Supergarlic? Incubation time? Traumatic false memory? Should I do a full body lemon thing like Susan Sarandon, which will not be sexy on me? ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/2 "2010-06-25T05:32:15Z")
Avoid grizzlies. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/3 "2010-06-25T05:33:35Z")
Or spawning male salmon. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/4 "2010-06-25T07:03:42Z")
You might want to report your post and get your title fixed. I do think it’s likely psychosomatic, if you’re the only one who smells it. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/5 "2010-06-25T13:51:01Z")
Maybe it’s like the smell of urine after consuming asparagus: Some people can smell it, and some can’t. You need to ask more people than just your wife. Some people cannot smell that asparagus stench (it’s a genetic thing). Get more opinions. Let us know if you find anything fishy. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/6 "2010-06-25T14:22:14Z")
Maybe you have a yeast infection. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DogRatCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e8cbc/32.png) [@DogRatCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogRatCat)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/7 "2010-06-25T15:07:12Z")
How often do you blow your nose? Maybe you’ve got some oil trapped under some really crusty boogers. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/8 "2010-06-25T16:57:39Z")
Try gargling with hot salt water. Or maybe 1 to 1 mouthwash and hydrogen peroxide. You need something to break up the oil, but I don’t recommend gargling dish detergent. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/9 "2010-06-25T17:15:42Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Should I do a full body lemon thing like Susan Sarandon, which will not be sexy on me? Yes actually. Gargle some lemon and even rub some over your body. After eating fish, I wash my hands, then rinse them with lemon juice. Fish odors don’t stand a chance against that yellow fruit. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/10 "2010-06-25T18:29:10Z")
The commercials for Lovaza list odd taste or smell as a side effect. It may or may not be related to the broken capsule, but it does seem odd that you’d just now be noticing after three years if it wasn’t related to that. Anyway, the fact that it’s a listed side effect makes me think a doctor or pharmacist might have some tips. I’m not too surprised that other people can’t smell it. Your mouth/throat/sinuses/nose are all interconnected. A tiny bit of oil sticking to some part of that system could easily be sending vapors right past your olfactory senses without creating enough that anyone else would notice. Other than the suggestions that have already been made, I’d recommend that you try a nasal lavage too. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/11 "2010-06-26T03:44:07Z")
Stills don’t smell anything like salmon. They usually smell like boiled corn mash. That’s one way revenuers find 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/12 "2010-06-29T20:38:38Z")
Sorry for getting back to this thread so late. The reason for that evanescent salmon smell that refused to go away after one dab of fish oil came to me in one blinding moment while taking my morning meds: I had placed on our transparent glass dining room table a few errant pills (of different kinds) that never made it into my pillboxes. One of those pills was the fish oil pill. When it half broke, it left a slick of oil on the glass table–making the slick invisible. Each time I picked up one of those errant pills, I dabbed my finger in a microscopic amount of oil. Case closed. Now, if that oil were deadly toxic in tiny doses steadily applied, absorbable, and of course odorless, wouldn’t that be a great setup for a slow, undetectable murder? Somebody call **Szofia**. I get 50% of the back end. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/13 "2010-06-30T21:22:29Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > Some people cannot smell that asparagus stench (it’s a genetic thing). I was under the impression that some people don’t PRODUCE the stench, not that some can’t SMELL it. Wrong? Joe ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-_still_-smell-like-salmon/544452/14 "2010-06-30T21:45:03Z")
Wikipedia suggests that the answer was not known for awhile, but now it seems that everybody can make smelly pee, but only some people can actually smell it.