Eating flowerhorn kok?

[Rtc/tsn]

Ok so this is a random 3am thought and I have no intention on ever trying this on an actual fish. Do you think that if flowerhorns were naturally occurring in nature and not a man made species then how would ancient civilizations utilize the fish? I’m not sure but I think that the Aztecs farmed cichlid as a major food source along with axolotl among many other various items but If they had flowerhorn in their time do you think they would eat the kok. Would it be a sign of wealth or royalty? I’m curious to hear some of your guys thoughts about this. Also this can relate to male PBass in Brazil, correct me if I’m wrong but don’t make PBass get a nachual hump ( don’t know the actual spelling I just know it’s something like that) but they don’t get as large. But did Brazil natives eat PBass or not due to the hump like could they have seen it as an omen similar to their beliefs of redtail catfish meat? Gonna try to fall asleep please tell me your thoughts on this topic.

 

[Krismo962]

I've seen a few videos online about people cooking them,in most of them they remove the kok/nuchal hump and only use the flesh.
Do not scroll below if you are squeamish.
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[Rtc/tsn]

I've seen a few videos online about people cooking them,in most of them they remove the kok/nuchal hump and only use the flesh.
Do not scroll below if you are squeamish.
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View attachment 1462173

What exactly is the nuchal hump made of? Sad to see suck a pretty fish die but why does it kinda look good lol. What I’m really wondering is if the kok is just more meat then why not see that as a blessing (going off the idea that if they were a natural species) and even then why wouldn’t humans today see it as some type of delicacy.

 

[Krismo962]

Pretty sure it died of natural causes before the owner cooked it.

What exactly is the nuchal hump made of? Sad to see suck a pretty fish die but why does it kinda look good lol. What I’m really wondering is if the kok is just more meat then why not see that as a blessing (going off the idea that if they were a natural species) and even then why wouldn’t humans today see it as some type of delicacy.

The Nuchal Hump in Amphilophus

This subject came up recently and while this may be common knowledge to some members I thought that I would share some information from some old research papers that discuss this in fish found within the midas complex. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0016648075901367...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[ichthyogeek]

Sounds like you're wanting a history lesson .

It might be worth it to look into fish that get large and also develop nuchal humps, or otherwise develop secondary sex characteristics. For example, buffalohead cichlids (Steatocranus casuarius) develop large nuchal humps, as do african rift cichlids like frontosa (Cypholophis frontosa). Both are fairly small, but there are probably more relevant examples somewhere, like with the peacock bass you mentioned.

Another thing to look into would be indigenous cultures' dietary preferences and the significance of certain foods as well as dietary taboos. It might be that the nuchal hump may have been seen as unnatural, and therefore unwanted as food.

Finally, continuing on with the nuchal hump, I think it depends on if the hump is primarily made of flesh or fat. If it's fat, then that could be really good, or really bad; few people seem to want to eat lipomas or other fatty deposits on animal flesh that are irregular. If it's flesh, then that's typically fine though. Something to keep in mind, is that males of a species tend to taste worse than females. We rarely if ever eat roosters in western society, and boar taint is a known phenomenon that may have parallels in other species.

 

[Milingu]

This is an interesting question.
Here is my theory about why not eating kok.
It is always said that koks are made of fat. But if you look at pictures of cut kok, you don't see any typical fatty tissue there.
In addition, so much fat would create enormous buoyancy and the fish could barely swim straight.

In the video posted above, adipose tissue is mentioned first, but later the same tissue it is called gelatinous tissue. Gelatine contains a lot of water. The same applies to the fluid-filled cells shown.
Therefore I assume that only a small part is really made up of adipose tissue. The rest is gelatinous tissue filled with water.
The water just does not exist in liquid form, but is bound in the tissue.

And anyone who has ever deep fried something knows what happens if you put something too moist into the hot oil.
It could therefore be a purely practical and not a taste reason.

 

[Rtc/tsn]

Sounds like you're wanting a history lesson .

It might be worth it to look into fish that get large and also develop nuchal humps, or otherwise develop secondary sex characteristics. For example, buffalohead cichlids (Steatocranus casuarius) develop large nuchal humps, as do african rift cichlids like frontosa (Cypholophis frontosa). Both are fairly small, but there are probably more relevant examples somewhere, like with the peacock bass you mentioned.

Another thing to look into would be indigenous cultures' dietary preferences and the significance of certain foods as well as dietary taboos. It might be that the nuchal hump may have been seen as unnatural, and therefore unwanted as food.

Finally, continuing on with the nuchal hump, I think it depends on if the hump is primarily made of flesh or fat. If it's fat, then that could be really good, or really bad; few people seem to want to eat lipomas or other fatty deposits on animal flesh that are irregular. If it's flesh, then that's typically fine though. Something to keep in mind, is that males of a species tend to taste worse than females. We rarely if ever eat roosters in western society, and boar taint is a known phenomenon that may have parallels in other species.

Thank you for this information I think the topic is crazy and surprised it hasn’t been talked about a lot yet

 

[fishhead0103666]

Thank you for this information I think the topic is crazy and surprised it hasn’t been talked about a lot yet

Well fishkeepers don’t normally eat aquarium fish so

 

[ichthyogeek]

Well fishkeepers don’t normally eat aquarium fish so

Or rather, we rarely keep viable food species in our fish tanks and/or more highly value the fish alive than edible. Some people keep sunfish which I hear are good eating. Discus and tangs are edible, but they sell for much more live than dead as food. The large sport species (peacock bass, redtail cats, arapaima, etc.) are all too big for your standard sized aquarium.

And that's not even getting into aquaponics.

 

[Ruturaj]

Nuchal hump composition changes by fish, in flowerhorns (mix of American cichlids) it's mostly water (not directly but rather systematic retention of water) and some fat, fat composition varying type to type. Not sure how would a fish or hump would taste or if it can be cooked.