Oilfish

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Oilfish

Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Gempylidae
Genus:	Ruvettus
Species:	R. pretiosus

Binomial name

Ruvettus pretiosus
Cocco, 1833

The oilfish, Ruvettus pretiosus, is a snake mackerel, the only species in the genus Ruvettus. It is found in tropical and temperate seas of the world, at depths of between 100 and 800 m. Its length is between 80 cm and 2 m.

The oilfish is similar to the silver gemfish but has a smaller mouth and eyes and a lower more jagged first dorsal fin. It is covered with small spiny scales and there is a row of small pores between each scale row.

Coloration is dark purple-brown on the back with a pale belly, and the pupil of the eye is brightly phosphorescent.

The flesh is very oily and although edible it is thought by some that the oil is a strong intestinal irritant. Japan and Italy have imposed an import ban on oil fishes. Australia has also banned oil fishes from being sold as food.

[edit] Hong Kong Oilfish controversy

Hong Kong's PARKnSHOP supermarket was selling oilfish as "cod fish (oilfish)" in its stores. Consumers ate the fish believing it is codfish, then suffered oily diarrhea as a result. Afterwards 14 complaints were filed against the supermarket chain, leading to an investigation by the Centre for Food Safety. ParkNShop has denied responsibility, claiming the fish is safe for human consumption. Nonetheless, the chain has since stopped selling the fish product.^[1] ^[2] ^[3]
On 30 January 2007, the commercial attache from the Indonesian consulate in Hong Kong confirmed that the export health certificate Mr Peter Johnston, ParkNShop's Quality Food Safety and Regulatory Affairs General Manager, had used in its media conference several days earlier was doctored. The attache explained that its fisheries department, under a request from the Hong Kong importer, had changed the product name, by including "Cod Fish" alongside its scientific name, on the certificate.

This controversy was also a subject of investigation by TVB Newsmagazine.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported (Feb. 23, 2007) on several cases in Canada where mislabelled oilfish was sold at Chinese supermarkets. Canadians fall ill after eating mislabelled oily fish

^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7]

Many other supermarkets, shops and restaurants were also found selling oilfish as "codfish". The Democratic Party is helping consumers to sue the retailers.