Data point: This was addressed in the documentary The Cove, which is about dolphin hunting. Fishing companies insisted that dolphin meat was an important part of the Japanese diet, but when they interviewed folks on the street they looked confused and laughed at the idea of eating a beautiful dolphin.
It doesn't. The process is called bioaccumulation and is a function of how long the species live and as a predator, how much of food lower on the food chain they eat.
Sardines are safer than Mackarel because they don't live as long and predate less. Mackarel are better than Tuna because tuna is a longer lived predator that eats more, thus accumulates more mercury. Dolphins are top of the food chain, thus have higher mecury levels.
The dolphins are getting it from the fish. It just tends to accumulate more in the longer living bigger animals. You are actually advised to watch your fish intake due to mercury levels.
Mercury, a heavy metal, enters marine ecosystems through various sources, including industrial discharge, atmospheric deposition, and natural geological processes. Because dolphins are apex predators, they accumulate mercury through the food chain. Smaller fish ingest mercury, and when dolphins consume those fish, the mercury becomes concentrated in their tissues. This process, known as bioaccumulation, results in higher concentrations of mercury in top predators like dolphins compared to organisms lower in the food web.
I'd rather not eat anything sapient. Crabs, chicken, and beef? Fine, but I'm not eating anything smarter than a 5-year-old human. No octopi or corvids for me.
Personally I just have a list of animals that I have enough respect for to never consider eating them. If I'm convinced enough, I'll add new animals to the list.
dog/wolf 🐺
hourse 🐴
whale/dolphin 🐋
hominidae 🦍
It's not very hard because I wasn't planning on eating any of these guys in the first place, but I can see myself giving up beef as my respect for cows grows.
Religious reason: It's not biblical under the Levitical food laws. In those laws, things like pig, dolphin, catfish, and vultures (to name a few examples) are not considered food to us (unclean foods due to what they eat).
If you take their answer as "historical precedent that's never been overturned" then it makes sense, And the question becomes "why did it get overturned for pigs and catfish?"
If you look at the Levitical food laws, there are specific critera for what animal is considered food to eat. For seafood, it's fish with fins and scales. If one doesn't have the other, it's unclean.
56 Comments
IWW4@lemmy.zip · 29 pts · 239d
Japan and other “island nations” doo eat dolphin meat.
triptrapper@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 239d
Data point: This was addressed in the documentary The Cove, which is about dolphin hunting. Fishing companies insisted that dolphin meat was an important part of the Japanese diet, but when they interviewed folks on the street they looked confused and laughed at the idea of eating a beautiful dolphin.
TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website · 3 pts · 239d
IIRC since we poisoned our seas the meat is full of mercury
IWW4@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 239d
Why does that only apply to Dolphin. Is there something in Mammals that makes them accumulate Mercury more than Fish?
Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca · 30 pts · 239d
It doesn't. The process is called bioaccumulation and is a function of how long the species live and as a predator, how much of food lower on the food chain they eat.
Sardines are safer than Mackarel because they don't live as long and predate less. Mackarel are better than Tuna because tuna is a longer lived predator that eats more, thus accumulates more mercury. Dolphins are top of the food chain, thus have higher mecury levels.
IWW4@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 239d
Ahh!! Thank you!
HikingVet@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 239d
The dolphins are getting it from the fish. It just tends to accumulate more in the longer living bigger animals. You are actually advised to watch your fish intake due to mercury levels.
TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website · 4 pts · 239d
I didn’t know so search for it
https://iere.org/how-much-mercury-was-found-in-the-dolphin-meat-they-tested/
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 238d
Anything at the top of a foodchain is mercury poisoned.
Tuna also has a higher mercury content
remon@ani.social · 1 pts · 239d
They get much older, I guess?
klu9@piefed.social · 18 pts · 239d
Not defining key terms like "we" defeats the porpoise of the question.
slazer2au@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 239d
!dadjokes@lemmy.world is that way mate.
SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 239d
That you, Jacques du Gatineaou?
SethranKada@lemmy.ca · 18 pts · 239d
I'd rather not eat anything sapient. Crabs, chicken, and beef? Fine, but I'm not eating anything smarter than a 5-year-old human. No octopi or corvids for me.
over_clox@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 239d
So you're okay with eating toddlers, gotcha 👍
SethranKada@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 239d
Sure, if they never grew up. But they do, so I won't.
remon@ani.social · 32 pts · 239d
They don't if you eat them first ...
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com · 7 pts · 238d
Hopefully you don't eat pigs then. They are one of the most intelligent animals.
madcaesar@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 238d
I eat beef... But when you meet cows they are basically gigantic dogs...
Sometimes I go though phases where I don't want any meat... But eventually my brain pushes those feelings back..
That said fuck factory farming, I really wish we had a better system
AntY@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 238d
How do you judge that? There are very many species of animals and there is variation within each species.
isyasad@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 238d
Personally I just have a list of animals that I have enough respect for to never consider eating them. If I'm convinced enough, I'll add new animals to the list.
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 238d
Did you mean sentient? :)
SethranKada@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 237d
No, I meant sapient. Sentient just means "reacts to outside stimuli." Plants are sentient. Its a really useless word.
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 237d
Oh wow. Didnt know about that!
tal@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 238d
In most respects, I'd rank a five-year-old human mentally above a raven or octopus.
remon@ani.social · 11 pts · 239d
Speak for yourself. Now someone pass me the speech centre of the brain!
pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 238d
tal@lemmy.today · 8 pts · 239d
In the US, looks lile it's illegal to trade in dolphin meat due to the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
It's apparently legal in Japan.
msokiovt@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 238d
Religious reason: It's not biblical under the Levitical food laws. In those laws, things like pig, dolphin, catfish, and vultures (to name a few examples) are not considered food to us (unclean foods due to what they eat).
LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 238d
If everyone followed that "law," nobody would eat pigs or catfish.
But most people do eat pig & catfish.
So your explanation doesn't quite hold water.
essell@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 238d
If you take their answer as "historical precedent that's never been overturned" then it makes sense, And the question becomes "why did it get overturned for pigs and catfish?"
msokiovt@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 237d
People turned away from the faith because they wanted to eat unclean meats.
essell@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 237d
There's a test I'd like to run.
Over a large and varied population, are unclean meats tastier or not?
AA5B@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 237d
I don’t believe it’s specifically forbidden, just that dolphins don’t have fins or scales. That includes a lot of things in the sea
msokiovt@lemmy.today · 0 pts · 237d
If you look at the Levitical food laws, there are specific critera for what animal is considered food to eat. For seafood, it's fish with fins and scales. If one doesn't have the other, it's unclean.
Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 239d
Too fast, I only get halfway through a bite before they swim away.
e0qdk@reddthat.com · 4 pts · 239d
Some people do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_mammals_as_food
Kennystillalive@feddit.org · 4 pts · 239d
They got great marketing. They act all cute and nice so we don't think of eating them eventhough they are evil.
slazer2au@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 239d
We do, its just you you don't.
Ioughttamow@fedia.io · 3 pts · 239d
From “so long and thanks for all the fish” to “enjoy being space red-lined, fuckos”
steeznson@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 238d
The other white meat
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org · 1 pts · 239d
We fear to make a bad, bad mistake when it turns out that they are more intelligent than we are.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 1 pts · 237d
"Dolphins are intelligent!"
"Not this one. He blew all his money on instant lottery tickets."
AA5B@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 237d
Historical. Dolphins have the reputation of being cute and intelligent.
Maybe pigs are intelligent but we already know what bacon tastes like.
I’ve also seen too many whaling videos showing all that blubber. Unless we’re resorting to whale oil again, that isn’t attractive
Edit: I found this https://iere.org/why-shouldnt-we-eat-dolphins/
Rhoeri@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 237d
Should we??
Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 239d
Why don't we eat humans?
grandel@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 239d
Cause we are humans
Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 239d
Tasty, tasty humans.
Pat_Riot@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 239d
Long pig
remon@ani.social · 3 pts · 239d
Because that's our group!
Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 239d
That's not sufficient.
remon@ani.social · 3 pts · 239d
It is for me.
Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 239d
Join me for dinner?
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org · 2 pts · 239d
Sometimes they bite back.
tal@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 239d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism_in_Oceania
Sometimes we do.
Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 239d
Sometimes we should.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_the_Rich