Now about that little puffer fish. I have learned some interesting facts about them since I was curious about why so many of them wash up on shore dead or dying. There is alot of talk about it on the internet. This has been noticed along the shores of the Baja peninsula in the very places where I have seen them. Popular opinion is that they get scooped up by the trawlers that collect shrimp and are thrown back into the sea half dead. This may be why they are found puffed up and floating on their backs when in the water but unable to fight the tide that brings them to shore.
They eat algae but have four teeth that are sharp enough to crack open a clam or a mussel.
More importantly, the puffer fish is the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world, being 12oo times more lethal than cyanide. One fish can kill 30 people. And yet there are restaurants in ....you guessed it.....Japan, where they serve this little lethal injection to their clientel. However restaurants whose highly skilled chefs serve it, also have a doctor in the house. Is that not comforting? A small percentage of people who eat the fish end up dying in spite of the presence of a physician. But get this....sharks eat them and have no ill effects. I guess if you are big enough and scary enough even a large dose of poison will back off.
They eat algae but have four teeth that are sharp enough to crack open a clam or a mussel.
More importantly, the puffer fish is the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world, being 12oo times more lethal than cyanide. One fish can kill 30 people. And yet there are restaurants in ....you guessed it.....Japan, where they serve this little lethal injection to their clientel. However restaurants whose highly skilled chefs serve it, also have a doctor in the house. Is that not comforting? A small percentage of people who eat the fish end up dying in spite of the presence of a physician. But get this....sharks eat them and have no ill effects. I guess if you are big enough and scary enough even a large dose of poison will back off.
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