Oh... OOHHHH... OH Shoot...

Just above we see a pufferfish doing its physical thing. They also have a very important chemical thing. Do not eat.

 

I've cooked up the ones I kept catching in a crab trap.
I think the toxin isn't heat stable, and the risk is more with the sushi.

 

"I think the toxin isn't heat stable"

Stop thinking that way. Do not eat.

 

It appears to simply not be here, or the local puffers don't pick it up. My grandfather regularly ate them. I only tried it because the five fish came back to the trap after I let them go the first time. The PCBs are a bigger threat here.

The toxic pufferfish where limited to Asia, but the species that carries it appears to be spreading with warmer temperatures.
Tetrodotoxin, an Extremely Potent Marine Neurotoxin: Distribution, Toxicity, Origin and Therapeutical Uses
Tetrodotoxin: Chemistry, Toxicity, Source, Distribution and Detection

 

Chesapeake Bat fishermen eat puffer. I most certainly would not.

 

Great typo btw. Fishers of men, I heard before but Bat fishermen. OMG!

 

I only eat American Squarefish.
Curious that they never named a US Submarine for this species.....

 

Whatever microbe is responsible for the toxin hasn't arrived to Eastern US waters yet.
I see the toxin is like PCBs; it gets concentrated in fatty tissue, like the liver.

 

I missed the editing window so there it stands or flies or swims.

 

I wonder if he even got wet?

 

You couldn't make that up.