…aka Oilfish aka the “It” Fish aka Shiro Maguro aka Abura Bozu aka Abura Sokumutsu aka Mutzu.
I have finally found a fish that Japanese won’t eat (raw, at least), and is in fact prohibited to be used for that purpose in Japan, and it turns out it’s all because eating it may make orange jets of oil (specifically, indigestible wax esters) shoot out of your ass.
And yes, I speak of that as a bug, not a feature.
Raising a family in Thailand // Documenting Issan food, culture, music, and people
I think we’ve eaten this fish, and though they don’t sell it in Japan, I believe you can still find in the Japanese markets in the US.
I don’t know why they banned this fish in Japan – it mixes the Japanese taste for fish and the diet fad among OLs. There’s a drug that does the same thing, using the same chemicals, producing the same effects. It’s called “Alli”.
We could make $$$ marketing this fish the right way!
I know this sounds bad but, this sounds like an episode from Bevis and Butt Head.