Four people died in the Volta region with several others receiving treatment at medical centres after allegedly consuming puffer or balloon fish.
The puffer fish is highly poisonous and needs a lot of attention from cooking experts and sometimes specially-trained chefs to treat it before consumption.
In 2011, a chief chef at a two-star Michelin restaurant in Tokyo was suspended after customers almost lost their lives having eaten the potentially poisonous puffer fish.
In the wake of the Volta region deaths, it has come to light that a lot of Ghanaians are unaware of the poisonous fish.
Here are some things you may not know about puffer or balloon fish:
- Puffer fish are thought to be the world’s second deadliest vertebrate, after the golden poison frog- Puffer fish are toxic to predators – and even humans. However, they are considered a culinary delicacy in Korea, China and Japan but must be served by only specially-trained chefs.
- Even with proper preparation by a trained chef, about a half dozen diners die every year from the paralyzing effects of eating puffer fish, so they should generally not be considered food.
- Almost all puffer fish contain tetrodotoxin, a substance that makes them foul tasting and lethal to fish. Tetrodotoxin is deadly to humans, up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. The tetrodotoxin is found throughout its body.
- There is enough toxin in one puffer fish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote. Symptoms can include dizziness, exhaustion, headache, nausea and eventually asphyxiation.
- There are more than 120 species of puffer fish worldwide.
- Puffer fish can puff up to two or three times their normal size.
- Many fish species have teeth that stop growing at some point, but puffer fish do not. Because they eat hard foods, they have teeth (also called beaks) that continuously grow throughout their lives.
