Beginning July 20, three members of the same family developed botulism after eating palani fish. Palani is a reef, scavenger, fish eaten by local residents. The palani was cooked on a grill on the day of purchase from a retail fish market. Two of the case-patients had eaten some of the intestine of the fish. The third person avoided eating the intestine, but had used his fingers to collect meat near the head and tail of the fish. The palani had been sold to the market by a local fisherman between July 2 and 13. Cooling equipment at the market was nonfunctional. The conditions around the retained gut of the fish may have facilitated an anaerobic environment, allowing the production of botulinum toxin. Botulinum toxin is destroyed by heat, but apparently the cooking process was insufficient to kill the toxin in this case.