The world's deadliest delicacy

by Siripathy Jayamaha

Puffer, blow fish, swell fish and Pethiya in Sinhala are found in our lagoons and the sea. They drift into lagoons at high tide. They are brought ashore along with the other marine fish by the beach seine (madel) fishermen. It is not edible.

Actually the puffer fish is the most mysterious creature of the sea. It is the world's deadliest fish. But eating ‘fugu’ (puffer) has been the gastronomic version of the Japanese, very much like the eggs of the sturgeon fish of Russia. It's the world's most exclusive dish caviar.

One can get late for any occasion after eating caviar. But one can be absolutely certain that his bourgeoisie friend will be the ‘late’, within a few minutes after partaking of ‘fugu'.

Not many of us have seen the ‘pethiya'. In our waters they grow upto about 25-30 cms. Full grown puffers are said to grow upto about 1,000 cms and weigh around 12 kilos. There are about 100 species of the puffer.

The fish can inflate itself into a sphere about three times its size when annoyed or scared. They take in water and air into a sac within its belly, and swells like a balloon or the tube of a tyre.

It deflates when the danger has passed. Then its shape is just like that of any other fish, but with a difference.

The teeth of the puffer are fused into a hard pointed structure that resemble a parrot's beak. It could tear apart crabs, oysters, clams, corals and sea urchins with ease. It can bite through wires and hooks. It is called an underwater bird of prey. They can remove with ease, the fingers of puffer fish cooks. They do not swim like other fish.

Rigidity

The fins are small and lack the spines that cause the rigidity to push against the water. They drift around happily with their tail fin acting as a rudder. It is a fascinating fish. When in an aquarium tank or in the expanse of the sea, it is just another fish. But the fishermen give them a wide berth. Their wide eyed innocent look could be very deceptive. The ovaries, liver, kidneys and the intestines are lethal.

Even when a microscopic portion of these organs enter our system, the result is death. A few Japanese people try to become heroes by having a slice of fugu fish. This custom has been with them for ages and many who have strived to be heroes end up in death. Why the brave Japanese should make it a ritual in eating this deadly poisonous fish is difficult for us to understand. Chefs have to undergo many specialised courses, written and oral, before the hotel administration permits them to prepare any type of food using fugu. The chefs should know how to remove the organs of death deftly. An error will cost the diner's life. There is a Japanese verse: Last night my friend and I do fugu.

Today I help in carrying his coffin.”

Also I cannot see her tonight, so I take fugu, so goodnight'.

Those who have lived after a dash of fugu say that its meat is closer to chicken and produces a warm, pleasant taste. They have defied a painful death. A dish of fugu costs around Rs. 25,000. Scientists and doctors say that the end comes most painfully. Chopsticks drop from lifeless hands, breathing becomes hard and eyes get blurred.

A few centimetres from the dining table, the person falls never to rise again.

Cooks who prepare dishes from fugu say that the demand has increased. Fatalities have decreased. They say that there is a marked depletion of puffer in the ocean and now they are grown in aquaculture farms.

Scientists say that one pin drop of the poison in the ‘fugu’ can claim about 140 lives a year. Its poison is known as ‘Tetrodotoxin’ since it belongs to the Tetrodon species. A micro millilitre could kill around 60 people if taken in a diluted form. It is 1250 times deadlier than cyanide.

Toxin

Now they are working on the toxin in finding treatment for arthritis, rheumatism and neuralgia.

The reason for a painful death is said to be because of the blocking of sodium channels in nerve tissues that paralyse the muscles.

There is no proven antidote because the toxin has a molecular structure unlike anything previously known to organic chemistry.

This droll and preposterous fish remains the most deadly feast. Japanese actors, intellectuals and writers have faced the fish of death by saying, “Those who fugu are heroes, but stupid. But those who don't eat fugu soup are also stupid.”