Puffer fish: Government official raises alert on consumption, says it is poison

A Deputy Director (DD) of Fishery at the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has warned citizens of Nigeria on the danger of consuming puffy fish saying it was a killer fish.

The Deputy Director Mr.  Jonah Dabit disclosed this during a phone chat with foodfarmnews this week Monday.

Dabit said that more people would ignorantly die of this fish if intensive sensitization against its consumption by Nigerians is not propagated, adding that Ministry of Health in Ghana has called the attention of Nigerian Government to it based on numbers of death already recorded in the reporting country.

The DD said the fish had already killed three people in Ghana saying that ‘’ a family ate pufferfish in Ghana and all of them were rushed to the hospital and three out of the five people in the family lost their lives to the fish poison. This has led the Ministry of Health in Ghana to notify our Federal Ministry of Health here and because FCT is a seat of power, the Nigerian Health minister now wrote to the FCT Minister to ensure sure case is not found here in the FCT’’

He said that finding has revealed that this particular fish was in Nigeria saying that "Yes, they are found everywhere in this country. You know Lagos is close to the ocean that is a marine environment.  It is also found in places like Abuja and North and in the South. Also riverine areas like Lokoja, Adamawa, Taraba, Kebbi and Niger will tell you they know about the fish very well and they are aware that it is poisonous”

Dabit stressed “That is why we have to go on a campaign to create awareness.  We went from market to market,  populated places and restaurants to show them how the fish looks, and it contains a toxin so deadly that is called tetrodotoxin and it is about 1200 times more poisonous than cyanide”

“Studies have shown that the toxin in one pufferfish is enough to kill 30 adults in a very short time and then there is no antidote for it which is even the worse thing “

“In Abuja, people do bring in the fish from outside. Some years back when we were going around on inspection, we saw it in Kado fish market in Abuja we warn them and since that time we’ve not seen it again and we’ve not heard of it again, Until now, that we got this letter from head of service to the minister of FCT that we should make sure that people are aware of this deadly fish”

"When we were going around I was asking people and some of them said hunters use the poison as an arrow, they suck the arrow inside the skin of the fish and when they shoot an animal it cannot run more than 10 minutes and then the poison will make it fall down.

Foodfarmnews checks on fish farmers across the country revealed that 90% had no idea of this particular fish as being very poisonous to human consumption, while10% claim to have knowledge of the killer fish and the danger it poses on human lives.

A visit to the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) by our correspondent revealed a detailed poster of the killer fish pasted inside the office building, but further enquiry from the Director, fishery department also said is yet to be informed about the fish.

Research claims that Pufferfish commonly known as fugu in Japan is found in the tropical and subtropical ocean waters, but some species live in fresh and brackish water.  It belongs to the family Tetraodontidae with many species which are variously called pufferfish, toadfish, globefish, blowfish, balloon fish, bubble fish, swellfish, toadies, sea squab, sugar toads and honey toads.

Report has it that there are more than 120 species of pufferfish worldwide. Majority of these species are toxic and some are among the most poisonous vertebrate in the world.

In certain species, the internal organs such as the liver, intestines and sometimes the skin contain tetrodotoxin which is highly poisonous when eaten.