Question

According to his memoirs (Cook 1777, as cited by Kao, 1966), one of Cook’s sailors obtained a puffer fish from a local trader in New Caledonia. Cook’s two onboard biologists tried to talk him out of eating the fish, but Cook was after all the captain, and all three tasted the liver and roe. Cook wrote:

“About three o’clock in the morning we found ourselves seized with an extraordinary weakness and numbness all over our limbs. I had almost lost the sense of feeling; nor could I distinguish between light and heavy bodies of such as I had strength to move, a quart pot full of water and a feather being the same in my hand.”

In thinking about the Puffer Fish based on your research, how do the fish’s toxins impact the brain and body?  Please answer in less than 200 words.

Answer 1

Puffer fish are also known as "fugu" belongs to the family tetraodontidae. The poison of one fish is enough to kill 30 persons. This poison helps them to survive in the natural world because these fish are slow and cannot escape swiftly when their predators approach them. So they blow up when they are approached by their predators as warning sign that they are poisonous. The poison of these fish are found in their reproductive organs and livers.

The poison tetradotoxin is produced by the bacteria that lives in these fish. This poison belongs to the category of neurotoxin. Neurotoxins takes their toll on the brain and nervous system . In a person who intake this fish the without proper care effect is seen in the extreme ends of the body, tips of finger and toes. It begins with numbness, tingling and lose of control. Muscles of the body are effected resulting in vomiting and diarrhea. It then effects the diaphragm, the largest muscular membrane of the body, this makes breathing difficult. Finally it hits brain making the person making difficult to recognize things and make them unconscious in coma state, if not given immediate medical attention leads to death.