The most poisonous fish in the world: a photo with a description

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

The survival of living organisms in the wild largely depends on their adaptability to their habitats. But what is an ocean? For a diver, it is full of fabulous wonders: colorful fish, colorful corals. For a gourmet, the ocean is a supplier of various delicacies: seafood, shellfish and other inhabitants of the aquatic environment. But in fact, this is a rather cruel world where everyone eats someone until he himself becomes the prey of a bloodthirsty predator. Therefore, mimicry is important in the aquatic environment. Predators try to become invisible in order to get closer to their prey. And the latter by all means wants to show the potential threat that it is impossible to eat it. The bright coloring of the fish seems to scream: “I am poisonous!” And often this is true. The topic of this article will be the most poisonous fish in the world. We will look at where they are found and tell you what to do to alleviate the suffering of a person who has become their victim, and even save his life.

It's paradoxical, but there are also such inhabitants of the seas who combine deadly poison and delicious meat in their body. One ofsuch is the poisonous Japanese puffer fish. You can taste it only in specialized restaurants. But in this case, it is better to make a will before dinner. You never know what can happen…

Fish and people: a bit of history

Probably, humanity first encountered the poisonous inhabitants of the seas in the Stone Age. Because already at the dawn of civilization, on the pyramids of the pharaohs of the fifth dynasty (2700 BC), there is a hieroglyph depicting a dogfish. She also gained notoriety in China. In the "Book of Herbs" - a medical treatise written in the period 2838-2700. BC e. - a detailed description is given of how to treat gourmets who had the imprudence to eat the meat of this fish. The biblical book Deuteronomy (1450 BC) also teaches what to eat and what to shun for the Jews. Aristotle and Pliny the Elder tried to describe the dangerous species that live in the Mediterranean Sea. In the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, Europeans began to come across poisonous fish from tropical and equatorial latitudes in the net. James Cook gave a description of the pufferfish in 1774. During his second trip around the world, he (with sixteen other crew members) was poisoned by the meat of this fish. Although, as everyone knows, he did not die from this. Unfortunately, such a useful science as zootoxinology, which studies poisons accumulated in the organisms of living beings, as well as their possible use in medicine, appeared only in the 20th century.

A little more theory

There are also enough poisonous creatures on land. Plants, mushrooms, insects, amphibians and reptiles … However, the land does not go to anycomparison with the ocean. Many inhabitants of the seas are somehow poisonous: fish, jellyfish, snakes, corals. What makes them so? Many predators, being less mobile than their prey, lie in wait in hiding. Their poison is aimed at quickly immobilizing the victim, paralyzing it. Such predators have dangerous teeth and spikes. Some stun their lunch with an electric shock. Such are the slopes. Victims, in the course of species evolution, acquire means of "individual chemical protection." Many fish, in addition to their bright, memorable coloration, have poisonous spines. A predator, grabbing such a prey, will not only prick itself, but also be poisoned. There are also poisonous fish that have very dangerous mucus on their bodies. Touching it leads to poisoning. In the classification of all these fish are called actively poisonous. "Don't touch me or you'll regret it!" says only their bristling appearance. But those who like to eat seafood should be wary of completely different fish. They are called passively poisonous. Evolution has led to the protection of the population, but not of the individual. It looks like an ordinary fish. But eat it and you'll be poisoned. A surviving predator will think ten times before tasting one of her relatives.

What do fish lovers need to know?

If you don't dive into choppy seas to come face to face with coral reef dwellers, and even if you don't run barefoot along the water's edge, don't think you're completely safe from poisonous creatures. You can also get poisoned in a restaurant. In this sense, primary and secondary poisonous fish are distinguished. The first are made by themselves.deadly secret. It can accumulate in spines, teeth, and scales. Sometimes the poison is a product of metabolism. In this case, fish meat or its caviar and milk should not be eaten. Moray eels, for example, have poisonous blood. Other inhabitants of the seas have all the meat. But secondary poisonous fish are no less dangerous. They accumulate in their body harmful substances from the reservoir - their habitat. For example, the blue-green algae that fish eat release cyanide. Thus, it is possible to poison yourself with an ordinary minnow if it is caught from such a pond. The leaching of fertilizers from the soil, which drain into water bodies with rain, also makes their inhabitants secondary-poisonous. Nitrates work well only on plants, not on people. Therefore, it is important to know where the catch comes from before tasting it.

Which fish is the most poisonous?

Do you know that the most dangerous inhabitant of the ocean is… the jellyfish. "Transparent killer" refers to this species that lives in tropical waters off the coast of Australia. Its tentacles stretch after the dome for thirty meters. Her touch paralyzes the human heart muscle, causing sudden death in 100% of cases. Also off the coast of the Green Continent lives a small blue-ringed octopus weighing only 70 grams. However, this baby is able to kill ten people with its poison in two seconds. Fish keep up with jellyfish, shellfish and snakes. More than 50 thousand people become their victims every year - incomparably more than from sharks. The most poisonous fish in the world is Synanceia verrucosa, or wart, from the orderSkorpenov. On its dorsal fin is a spike, the injection of which causes such severe pain that a person loses consciousness. Poison injected into the blood leads to vascular collapse and cardiac arrest. At the same time, it is difficult for everyone to see the danger even up close. For the purpose of camouflage, this small fish takes on the shape and color of the environment. It is very difficult to distinguish it from a piece of coral or cobblestone. That is why it is also called "stone fish". The closest relatives of the wart, scorpions (or sea scorpions), also have the properties of a chameleon. In addition, they tend to burrow into the sand or silt at low tide. Therefore, to step on their extremely poisonous spike, you do not need to dive into the dangerous world of coral reefs at all.

Where are the most poisonous fish in the world?

Most predators, not chasing prey, but lying in wait for it, live in the tropical seas of the Indian Ocean. They are teeming with water off the coast of Southeast Asia, East Africa, Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia. Enough dangerous creatures in the Pacific Ocean. Fugu, or pufferfish, is found off the coast of Japan. But the most dangerous place on Earth in terms of the density of poisonous inhabitants per cubic liter of water is Australia. And that's not counting sharks, electric rays, jellyfish and clams! And there are 51 species of water snakes, of which Hydrofis bseheris, an inhabitant of the Timor Sea, is listed in the Guinness Book for poisonousness. Local marine fish are considered no less dangerous: poisonous wart, scorpion fish, lionfish, inimicus. And you need to know this when going on vacation to the Green Continent. Seven of the top ten most dangerous specieslives off the coast of Australia. But with global warming, many inhabitants of the tropical latitudes began to move further and further from the equator. They are already met off the coast of Chile, Japan, and South China. But in the Red, Mediterranean and even the Black Seas, there are also enough unsafe creatures. In general, scientists have described two hundred and twenty species of poisonous fish. In a word, they simply cannot be counted.

What to do in case of poisoning?

Most people fall victim to actively poisonous fish. And not because they are chasing inexperienced swimmers. These fish, if they are predators, inject toxins into smaller prey. And more often poisonous spikes serve as a means of individual protection against large and toothy fish. What do swimmers need to remember? Do not step on corals or touch them with your hands. For recreation in the tropics, it is better to purchase special shoes for swimming (since, in addition to fish, there is still a danger of stepping on a sea urchin - also poisonous, by the way). If possible, wild beaches should be avoided. And do not grab with your hands the inhabitants of the depths swimming close to you - you don’t know which fish are poisonous and which are not. If you still feel a prick, immediately get out on land or call for help. Toxins that affect the nervous system act with lightning speed, and a person can die if timely assistance is not provided to him.

First of all, you need to take measures to eliminate the poison. If it is a hand, the victim himself can suck the poisoned blood from the wound by spitting it out. Toxins in the legcan be squeezed out by pressing on both sides around the affected area. Next, the victim needs to relieve the pain, because it is often unbearable and this can cause fainting or shock. Necrosis often occurs at the site of the lesion, there is a risk of re-infection and even gangrene. Therefore, the wound should be treated with a disinfectant.

Silent Killers

If the body of a fish is covered with spikes, bristled with thorns, if its mouth is full of sharp teeth, then even a fool understands that these creatures are very dangerous. And the very name of poisonous fish speaks for itself: pufferfish, sea scorpion, dragon, stingray, prickly shark, terrible tubercle, imimicus, which means “enemy” in Latin … But the local population in those places where these dangerous creatures are found still eats them. Having lost their frightening thorns, being cleansed of poisonous mucus, they give very tender and tasty meat. So, the inhabitants of Australia eat and praise scorpionfish, and the fishermen of the Black Sea catch katrans for restaurants. But passive-poisonous fish, photos of which you need to see in order to remember, are more insidious. Nothing in their appearance resembles those terrible monsters that lifeguards in the Red Sea resorts scare beachgoers with. However, in such a harmless-looking fish as a puffer, a poison lurks that is much more effective and faster than potassium cyanide. Evolution does not care about saving the life of one individual, but about the survival of the species. In addition, this fish alone can swell out of fear and turn into a ball. Such prey can get stuck in the throat. After tasting one or two … ten fish, all the predators of the Pacific now knowthat you should not swallow a small puffer.

Is it possible to get poisoned by "our" fish?

Poisonous fish of the Black Sea have several species. These are, first of all, the prickly shark katran, the astrologer, the mouse-lyre, the dragon. Angler and stingray enter Azov. In the seas washing the Far East coast of Russia, there are high-beam perch, stargazer, katran and pufferfish, called fugu in Japan. In the B altic, sculpin and stingrays are among the dangerous fish. As you can see, among this cohort, only fugu is a passive-poisonous species. All the rest, after removing the spikes, can be taken without any fear. But here, too, there are all sorts of troubles. There are so-called seasonally poisonous fish of the Black Sea, and fresh water too. These are some species of bream, carp, perch, as well as tench, barb, barbel, kutum and others. During spawning, you can get poisoned by caviar and milk of these fish. A serious danger comes from polluted water bodies and from the rapid bloom of blue-green algae. In this case, even the most edible fish becomes poisonous, as it accumulates toxins from the environment. In medicine, several bursts of "epidemics" have been described among the population of the Kaliningrad region, around lakes Yuksovskoye (Leningrad region), Ukshozero (Karelia) and Sartlan (Novosibirsk region).

Who is the fugu?

Undoubtedly, the most poisonous fish living in the Sea of Japan is the pufferfish. The sailors of the Kuril Islands call it a puffer, and the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun call it a puffer. This white-bellied fishgray-brown back has no scales, but at the moment of danger raises skin plates and swells like a ball. However, this is not the danger of fugu. The poison contained in its meat, and especially in the liver, skin, genitals, is so toxic that it is twenty-five times more than curare and 275 times more than potassium cyanide. The active substance - tetrodotoxin - blocks the processes of nerve cells. Symptoms of severe poisoning appear in the first minutes. Lethal outcome occurs during the first day. First, a person feels a slight tingling in the lips and tongue. Then comes the headache and pain in the abdomen and limbs. Lost coordination of movements, vomiting begins (in this case, the patient still has a chance to survive). Soon breathing becomes difficult, blood pressure drops and body temperature drops. Blueing of the mucous membranes and skin is observed. The patient falls into a coma, his breathing stops. Unfortunately, the antidote against the poison of this fish has not yet been discovered. But despite these chilling details, puffer meat is still considered a delicacy in Japan. Scientists have found that these marine fish are poisonous only in adulthood. "Safe fugu" have been grown, but are not popular among gourmets.

Samurai Nation

As we remember, the first European who tasted a dish of poisonous puffer fish was James Cook. But the Japanese have been using it since ancient times. Fugu has firmly entered the culture and art of the Land of the Rising Sun. In one of the parks in Tokyo, there is even a monument to this fish. What makes millions of Japanese literally entrustyour life as a chef? After all, statistics show that every year several dozen people die from fugu poison and a much larger number of victims are hospitalized. Suicidal attitudes, balancing on the verge of life and death - it's all there in abundance in Japanese culture. The fashion for fugu was brought by samurai - severe knights, cold-blooded, ready to do hara-kiri in order to maintain a good name. For a long time, the authorities banned the fishing of this fish. But in vain. It was sold on the black markets. Now the chef, in order to obtain a license for cooking puffer dishes, must take special courses and pass an exam. Before the commission, he must butcher the carcass, cook three dishes from it and … taste a piece from each. And only with a happy outcome of the case, poisonous puffer fish, photos of dishes with it adorn the restaurant menu.

Japanese style of Russian roulette

Why don't people want to eat puffer meat that doesn't originally contain tetrodotoxin? Gourmets who have tasted such a safe fish call its taste ordinary and even banal. Poisonous fish is popular in Japan, even with all the ensuing sad consequences. But do the Japanese come to the restaurant only to tickle your nerves? Dishes with possible, and this word must be emphasized, poison cost from one hundred to five hundred dollars. This is how gourmets describe the taste of dangerous fugu: "It is akin to Japanese art - as refined, refined, smooth as natural silk." Europeans, on the other hand, say that the fish looks like chicken, and the consistency resembles jelly. In dishes with fugu, it is not the complete absence of poison that is important, but itsavailable in the smallest doses. Then the client feels something similar to the effect of a drug. After all, tetrodotoxin is 160,000 times more active than cocaine! This was adopted by surgeons, using this substance in operations to remove tumors. Of course, everything depends on the dose - both in medicine and in the kitchen. The cook who passed the exam takes into account the weight of the client, his age, state of he alth and even nationality. The restaurant worker vigilantly watches the diners in order to notice the first alarming symptoms and take action. Poisonous Japanese fish is served in several variations. The most favorite dish is fugusashi. From the thinnest slices of raw fish, the chef creates whole pictures. This dish is served with sauces. Fuguzosun, a poisonous fish soup, is also common. Sometimes pufferfish are boiled and served with accompanying ingredients.