# Can you eat Greater Sirens?



## GBov (May 4, 2008)

My kids and I just caught a three ft. long Greater Siren and, as it was such a chunky meaty looking animal, we were wondering if its something good to eat?

A google search didn't help AT ALL! We got lots of information on how to keep them alive but non at all on if WE could eat it lol.

Any ideas?

We turned that one loose but if there is one, there are many and if we can eat them it'll be worth catching them.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

Really? No one knows?

I guess I'm not the only one google hates


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## farmrbrown (Jun 25, 2012)

Well, I looked it up for you but never replied, lol.
I couldn't find any reason you _couldn't_, like it being poisonous, but after viewing some pictures, I'd have to say I might IF I was ever *really* hungry.:yuck:


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

farmrbrown said:


> Well, I looked it up for you but never replied, lol.
> I couldn't find any reason you _couldn't_, like it being poisonous, but after viewing some pictures, I'd have to say I might IF I was ever *really* hungry.:yuck:


Funny, it looked rather nice in the fish trap! Nice and fat like a big eel.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

you should try it , it is an amphibian , you can eat frog 

i had to look up greater sirens http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/Facts/FactSheets/Greatersiren.cfm

they reminded my of mud puppies without legs they share the same gills and are also amphibians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudpuppy


the closest looking thing we eat up here is fresh water burbot , we call them Lawyers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burbot they are a fresh water cod and are very good fried , but they do not freeze well so they are eaten fresh 
during the depression they were commercially fished for their livers for the oil , one of the reasons i suppose that my fishing side of the family didn't feel the depression so bad , was that if you got paid for the livers you could eat all the rest.


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## Ray (Dec 5, 2002)

I watched a documentary on giant Salamander in Japan that is now protected because they ate it to the point of near extension, it gets 5 to 6 foot long, probably weighed 70 lb? So if you could hold on to the slick skin and butcher them I'm sure they would eat fine on a Hungary night! Better than nothi g on a survival trip? I think I'd rather eat cicadas I know they are great! They taste like shrimpy, chickeny bites off the grill, or deep fried, great stir fried with onion garlic, wow! Best wishes ray


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

Ray said:


> I watched a documentary on giant Salamander in Japan that is now protected because they ate it to the point of near extension, it gets 5 to 6 foot long, probably weighed 70 lb? So if you could hold on to the slick skin and butcher them I'm sure they would eat fine on a Hungary night! Better than nothi g on a survival trip? I think I'd rather eat cicadas I know they are great! They taste like shrimpy, chickeny bites off the grill, or deep fried, great stir fried with onion garlic, wow! Best wishes ray


Cicadas eh? Do you have to take the wings and legs off or do you just cook them as is?

And I think the Greater Siren in the trap was a fluke, we havnt caught one again.

LOTS of mud turtles though!


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## smilodonfatalis (Aug 2, 2013)

I advise against it.

Some amphibians, such as toads, are poisonous.

When in doubt, throw it out.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

smilodonfatalis said:


> I advise against it.
> 
> Some amphibians, such as toads, are poisonous.
> 
> When in doubt, throw it out.


That is where I was when I turned it loose. Well, that and it was such a beautiful creature.

Just lately we turned loose a 30 pound soft-shell turtle picked up from the road. The area it was living in was surrounded by cotton fields so it had been getting its yearly dose of herbicides and pesticides and fungicides and goodness only knows what and storing it in its soft tissues. My mum had a bad reaction to turtle meat a few years ago.


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## smilodonfatalis (Aug 2, 2013)

Turtle meat is delicious...it tastes like lobster.

There is probably less pesticide residue in wild turtles than meat we buy at the grocery store.

Seem pretty gruesome to kill and butcher though.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

smilodonfatalis said:


> Turtle meat is delicious...it tastes like lobster.
> 
> There is probably less pesticide residue in wild turtles than meat we buy at the grocery store.
> 
> Seem pretty gruesome to kill and butcher though.


Turtles are not gruesome to butcher but it is very strange to have jointed and skinned legs still trying to crawl out of the pan. Very strange indeed ound:

I only know about the residue problem from the time I butchered a red eared slider and fried up the tenderloins while the rest was simmering for soup. My mum and I ate the fried tidbits and, while I was fine, she had a very dangerous allergic reaction to it, lips numb and tingling, tongue swollen, swallow reflex not working......

As I said, very scarry!

So I looked it up and found a little bit about it based mainly in Asia and soft shelled turtles where agricultural and manufacturing chemicals in the eco system build up in turtle meat and cause anaflactic shock and KILL people! 

So, when I rescue a turtle from the road, we only eat it if its in a wildlife reserve or the like.

It did hurt my heart to throw that big one back though!


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