Eels found to absorb more malachite green due to scaleless skins

Updated at 6.27pm: Eels absorbed more of the cancer-causing chemical, malachite green, than other freshwater fish because they had scaleless skins, recent university research has found.

Laboratory tests by Chinese University of Hong Kong?s medicine faculty found that eels absorbed substances more easily with their smooth skins, compared with fish which had scales, the Ming Pao Daily reported on Monday.

Researchers found that malachite green was mostly stored in fat ? especially in internal organs.

As eels had more fat in their bodies than other freshwater fish, their malachite green content would be higher, they explained.

Researchers also discovered that malachite green could cause cancer and genetic mutations in animals, but consumption over a short period would not be harmful to human health.

They said people might only experience minor health problems (such as nausea and abdominal pains) if they kept consuming 500 kilograms of fish tainted with malachite green each day for a long time.