Five residents in Palm Beach recently reported ciguatera poisoning, confirmed the county’s health department. The illness is most often obtained by eating heavy, large-bodied fish such as snapper, grouper, barracuda, hogfish and amberjack. The sources of the recent illnesses are thought to be from grouper caught from Bahamian waters and a Whole Foods Market supplier.

"When we first learned of the possibility that this fish may have come from one of our stores, we immediately removed it from the sales floor, quarantined it and submitted it for independent third-party testing," read a statement from Whole Food Markets to the Palm Beach Post. "While these tests have come back negative, we continue to work closely with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Florida Department of Health, the Florida Department of Agriculture (FDA) and our suppliers to determine the source of the product."

Though 13 cases have been reported this year in Palm Beach County, the illness is rare. There have been only 82 cases reported in the last five years in Florida. Ciguatera is a dinoflagellate toxin from certain reef algae. The alga is eaten by smaller fish and passed through the food chain to large species of some reef fish. Florida fishermen should be mindful of specific areas in The Bahamas and the Tortugas, and larger sections of the Caribbean.

Fishermen who target cubera snapper are familiar with the illness. Large cubera snapper are known to carry the painful dinoflagellate, Gambierdiscus toxicus. Within hours of eating the fish, it’s pretty obvious if the consumer has ciguatera. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, blurred vision, arrhythmias, and a sensation of cold things feeling hot (and the inverse). The symptoms can linger from weeks well into a year. Ciguatera test kits are available but are not approved by the FDA.

Get all the details from the Palm Beach Post article. Read up on ciguatera at University of Miami’s NIEHS Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center Web site.