Toxicity of Puffers from Okinawa, Japan

Abstract

A total of 65 specimens of puffers comprising nine species of the suborder Tetraodontoidei were collected from Okinawa and tested for toxicity levels of the flesh, skin, liver, gonad, and intestine. Chelonodon patoca, Arothron manillensis, A. nigropunctatus, and A. hispidus showed high toxin levels in the flesh and thus should be banned from being eaten. Toxicities of the flesh of A. mappa, A. stellatus, Pleuranacanthus sceleratus, and Fugu niphobles were within an acceptable level. Diodon hystrix, which is widely consumed locally, showed no significant level of the toxin in all tissues tested. Extremely high toxicities of the flesh of C. patoca (520 MU/g) and A. nigropunctatus (184 MU/g) are worthy of special mention. © 1991, The Japanese Society of Fisheries Science. All rights reserved.