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The Last Resource
layman alike is the variety of deadly poisons liberally scattered
among marine animals. Dr Bruce Halstead has described many of
these marine creatures that are poisonous when their esh is eaten
or venomous because of their stings or bites: the sea snakes of the
Pacic and Indian Oceans are more venomous than the notorious
cobra; the sea wasp, a jelly sh, has a sting that kills within three to
eight minutes; marine snails such as the cone shells inject venom
through a hollow harpoon—like structure; the toxic blooms, like the
red tide organism mentioned earlier, wipe ont millions of sh; and
over 300 species of sh which are poisonous to eat lie in wait for the
unwary or the ignorant.
These poisons can be placed in one of two groups—protein or
non—protein. The protein poisons are generally more potent but one
well—studied non—protein poison, tetrodotoxin, is at least more toxic
than that of a rattlesnake, although it is still 100,000 times less lethal
than the notorious botulinum toxin produced by the bacterium
Clostridium balulz'num. Tetrodotoxin comes from the puffer sh
(so—called because they can inate themselves with air or water) of
which at least 40 species are known to be poisonous. The poison is
not spread throughout the body but is generally concentrated in the
gut, liver, reproductive system, and, to a lesser extent, skin. The
muscles of the back are not poisonous and are considered something
of a delicacy by the japanese. In fact this infatuation with such a
potentially dangerous food has greatly advanced the knowledge of
_
this poison—and the way in which its unfortunate victims die. The
earliest symptoms appear in the rst parts of the body to come into
contact with the poison: the lips, tongue and inner surface of the
month. A numbness, coupled with a tingling sensation, in the mouth
is followed by paralysis of limb and chest muscles. The blood
pressure falls, the heart beats more rapidly than usual and the pulse
is weak. The victim may well be dead within half an hour of eating
fugu, as the puffer sh is known in japan. Fortunately the cases of
fugu poisoning are on the decline today because trained chefs
prepare the sh which is served only in specially licensed restaurants.
Various delights have been ascribed to eating fugu from hallucinations which give the sensation of riding on a cloud to heightened or
restored sexual powers, but the true value of the tetrodotoxin may
well lie in medicine. As far back as the early 19005 a japanese
scientist Yoshizumi Tahara, who gave the poison its name, advocated
its use as a pain—killing drug. Since then the toxin, in a puried form,
The Last Resource
layman alike is the variety of deadly poisons liberally scattered
among marine animals. Dr Bruce Halstead has described many of
these marine creatures that are poisonous when their esh is eaten
or venomous because of their stings or bites: the sea snakes of the
Pacic and Indian Oceans are more venomous than the notorious
cobra; the sea wasp, a jelly sh, has a sting that kills within three to
eight minutes; marine snails such as the cone shells inject venom
through a hollow harpoon—like structure; the toxic blooms, like the
red tide organism mentioned earlier, wipe ont millions of sh; and
over 300 species of sh which are poisonous to eat lie in wait for the
unwary or the ignorant.
These poisons can be placed in one of two groups—protein or
non—protein. The protein poisons are generally more potent but one
well—studied non—protein poison, tetrodotoxin, is at least more toxic
than that of a rattlesnake, although it is still 100,000 times less lethal
than the notorious botulinum toxin produced by the bacterium
Clostridium balulz'num. Tetrodotoxin comes from the puffer sh
(so—called because they can inate themselves with air or water) of
which at least 40 species are known to be poisonous. The poison is
not spread throughout the body but is generally concentrated in the
gut, liver, reproductive system, and, to a lesser extent, skin. The
muscles of the back are not poisonous and are considered something
of a delicacy by the japanese. In fact this infatuation with such a
potentially dangerous food has greatly advanced the knowledge of
_
this poison—and the way in which its unfortunate victims die. The
earliest symptoms appear in the rst parts of the body to come into
contact with the poison: the lips, tongue and inner surface of the
month. A numbness, coupled with a tingling sensation, in the mouth
is followed by paralysis of limb and chest muscles. The blood
pressure falls, the heart beats more rapidly than usual and the pulse
is weak. The victim may well be dead within half an hour of eating
fugu, as the puffer sh is known in japan. Fortunately the cases of
fugu poisoning are on the decline today because trained chefs
prepare the sh which is served only in specially licensed restaurants.
Various delights have been ascribed to eating fugu from hallucinations which give the sensation of riding on a cloud to heightened or
restored sexual powers, but the true value of the tetrodotoxin may
well lie in medicine. As far back as the early 19005 a japanese
scientist Yoshizumi Tahara, who gave the poison its name, advocated
its use as a pain—killing drug. Since then the toxin, in a puried form,