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According to this question freshwater fish should not be used in Ceviche--why not?

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You should never eat freshwater fish in raw preparations. Freshwater fish are far more likely to have nasty parasites such as the lung fluke, that can only be killed by cooking. There is a slew of other nasty beasts that can be harmful if not killed.

Unless you want to end up on an episode of Monsters Inside Me, stay away.

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Ewwww, now I wish I hadn't asked the question! – Jay Sep 14 '10 at 17:07
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In addition to hobodaves fine answer, freshwater fish usually contains a lot more mercury and other very unhelathy substances caused by human pollution. Some doctors recommend you to only eat freshwater fish twice a month.

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The higher mercury level is a concern even for cooked fish. It doesn't go away when cooking, unfortunately. – hobodave Sep 14 '10 at 6:52
Wow, I had no idea. Does the mercury content apply to farm-raised fish? I would guess trout caught from a high mountain lake would be safer from mercury, or is that just wishful thinking... – Jay Sep 14 '10 at 17:05
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@Jay: Mercury usually isn't a concern in farm raised fish, though you do have to worry about PCBs. Mercury pollution is a man made problem, so unless the high mountain lake is polluted it would be safer. – hobodave Sep 14 '10 at 19:17
I hope I didn't make it sound like cooking it would make the mercury level go away. If so, sorry, it doesn't. – Lars Andren Jan 5 '11 at 6:39
Most advice regarding mercury in fish tends to be to eat lower on the fishy food chain since the larger fish will accumulate more heavy metals from eating the small fish. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_in_fish – Allison Feb 1 '11 at 11:03

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