Poisonous fish

Examples

• Species of puffer fish are the most poisonous in the world, and the second most poisonous vertebrate after the golden dart frog. The active substance, tetrodotoxin, found in the internal organs and sometimes also the skin, paralyzes the diaphragm muscles of human victims, who can die from suffocation. In Japan, skilled chefs use parts of a closely related species, the blowfish to create a delicacy called "fugu", including just enough toxin for that "special flavour".
• The spotted trunkfish is a coral reef fish that secretes a colourless ciguatera toxin from glands on its skin when touched. The toxin is only dangerous when ingested, and poses no immediate harm to divers. However, predators as large as nurse sharks can die as a result of eating a trunkfish.
• The giant moray is a reef fish at the top of the food chain. Like many other apex reef fish, it is likely to cause ciguatera poisoning if eaten. Outbreaks of ciguatera poisoning in the 11th to 15th centuries from large, carnivorous reef fish, caused by harmful algal blooms, could be a reason why Polynesians migrated to Easter Island, New Zealand, and possibly Hawaii.