Wanna Split the Smilex Fish Dinner, Your Honor?

Chalk this up to the "print what the Mayor thinks, not what he says" baseline established by Mayor Daley's father. Remember last month when the city celebrated the opening of the Riverwalk? Someone asked Mayor Daley if he'd eat fish caught from the Chicago River and he said, "Sure, why not?", which must've sent his press department scrambling for their phones, laptops and antacid to play it down as a half-joke.

Sun-Times outdoor reporter Dale Bowman recently went fishing in the river. The Sun-Times then sent the bluegill Bowman caught to a lab for testing. The results? They aren't as bad as some might think. Green Bay-based Pace Analytical Services reported that mercury levels in the gill were far below what's considered safe for children and women looking to bear children, but that the PCB levels of the fish are high enough that you frontiersmen out there shouldn't go eating bluegill on a regular (read: daily) basis. The results suggest that PCB levels in bottom feeding fish like carp and catfish could be higher, since it's at the river's bottom where toxic sludge settles.

Joker Image courtesy of The Fighting Fury.