Are cooked organisms on a plate valid observations?

General
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Earlier I saw an observation of some kind of sea creature.
It was not wild or captive, but on a plate complete with rice and side dishes.

It somehow feels wrong to me to add this as an observation.
What are your thoughts on this?

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It is not ideal, but without seeing the observation or knowing what the observer’s intent is we shouldn’t assume anything negative about it. This is probably a rare occurrence or perhaps someone who is new or unfamiliar with iNaturalist; did you ask them about it? Regardless there are iNaturalist projects for all sorts of related subjects, like organisms for sale in markets around the world.

Some scenarios I can think up: the species is endangered, wild caught, and they were served it. In that case the location should be where it was caught to the best of their abilities, but even then whether or not it can be RG is dubious.

If the organism was farmed it should be marked cultivated. If the location is inaccurate and reflects a domicile or restaurant then it should be casual.

Maybe they just wanted to share their dinner. It should be under “human”, then.

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Evidence of human.

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I say one should comment and ask the observer for some background first and foremost, because you never know how they see things or why they wanted to upload it. After that, if they don’t answer especially, I’d probably mark it as not wild if the location is not somewhere that it’s reasonable to assume it was caught. Like if the location is a building or a city and it’s a marine animal from somewhere far away, then that location is only evidence of it being captive. IDing as human would probably come shortly after that based on what is said or what is not said, but I try to talk to the person first to better understand.

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This recent thread has a very similar question and answers:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/live-seafood-as-observations/45011

To paraphrase/half-quote my answer there:
Yes, I think it’s possible to add these observations, BUT observations are supposed to be the observer’s interaction with some natural organism.

If they did not encounter the organism in the location where it was caught (which seems the case), but at the restaurant, the observation should be located at the restaurant and marked as captive. An observation at the catch location would really be of the unknown fisherperson’s encounter with the oyster, not the observer’s (and the ability to determine catch location is fraught).

If I encountered an observation of a cooked organism at a restaurant with a location not at a restaurant, I would leave a comment and probably give a downvote for “Location is accurate” in the DQA depending on response.

On the other hand, if someone harvested the organism themselves, and is taking a picture later, then adding the time/location of the harvest would be ok.

So it’s probably ok to do this rarely, but I wouldn’t recommend making many of these.

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Basically, no you shouldn’t or if you do post something like this you should probably mark it captive. However, if the location is where it was caught, it might be OK. I did this once. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/28359931 It was fun.

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IMG_7620
IMG_76203024×4032 2.87 MB

I debated about posting these ‘opihi from Maui but I didn’t collect them, only ate them, so didn’t.

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I think this is similar in a sense to fruits and veggies purchased at a market or grocery store, though in those cases it’s easier to argue they are probably all cultivated. With seafood and stuff, it may well have been wild-caught but I would assume very rarely would these observations be posted with the location of the original catch. In either case, they should probably be casual.

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One or two of these is OK if marked properly but it shouldn’t be a regular thing.

Someone could just make a list like this one, that’d be better than observations.

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Funny idea for a list, not one I’d make. But if I did, to be fair, I’d have to make another one for all the organisms that have fed on me.

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I have something close to that.

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that is hilarious. Does it count captives? I kind of want to make one now but I don’t know if I can even remember/identify everything that’s bitten me over the years.

Savannah monitors, russian rat snakes, god alone knows how many species of ticks and chiggers, a squirrel (it was in our damn christmas ornaments!)…

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…A MAN OF WAR?

you okay bro?

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Yes, some of those were from when I worked with captive reptiles/amphibians as an educator (they were all former pets).

Been stung countless times. I grew up near the east shore of O’ahu and that’s where the prevailing winds blow so they’re just a fact of life if you’re swimming or riding waves. Last major sting was a few years ago.

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I suppose that makes sense. As a midwesterner its just extremely weird to see someone so casual about man-of-war stings.

Though you have answered a question I’ve been wondering - whether or not stings/bites/etc are appropriate to upload as an observation

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I had a similar inner debate about a number of Babylon snail shells in my possession. Of course, in my case, the decision was easier because I can’t quite remember where or when I ate them either.

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aaaand now you’ve got this classic song stuck in my head.

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Uncooked organisms can also be valid observations, like this Olive. These kinds of observations should also be added to Geralds of the World, if possible.

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If the organism was not captive and the observations is provided with “good” coordinates, then I would think it could be somehow ok but… at the same time not of good taste.

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