The Puffer Forum

I've been reading that puffers are poisonous ,but I"m wondering if there actually dangerous in any way?

Only if you cut one open and get the poison in you, alive they are no threat really...unless you're eating it.

but it doesn't matter if they bite you?

Other than the initial pain, nope...they dont have fangs.

ok thanks!

Nope, puffers don't inject poison, even in their spines. Its only if you eat them that you get poisoned.

Boxfish on the other hand, and I think lionfish maybe? If they die they can release their toxins into the tank, killing all their tankmates. But the common puffers no, you can't get poisoned from handling them or getting bit by them.

I just saw a CSI tonight, where a voodo priestess was killing off victims with a powder made from pufferpoison. They said it was taken from their skin & liver.

Moral of the story:

Puffer != food

I believe some tribes in asia , used to use their poison for medical purposes. though i am at a loss for what they could cure with it .

Anyone ever see the movie "Hello Again" with Shelley Long? In it, she was accused of using tetraodotoxin to slow her body functions and simulate death so she could then pretend to have been resurrected by her witchy sister. I believe it was pronounced (very slowly and deliberately) TET-TRO-DO-TOX-IN. Found it kinda funny.

Cool, when my meds aren't working, I'll just go suck on my GSP.

Thanks PP. makes sense now !

Wow, that's interesting!

I wonder where they are getting their puffers from though... hopefully not wild caught! And thinking along those lines, I wonder if certian species are more toxic than others...

Of course if the line of thinking that its something they eat in the wild that causes the toxicity, then that answers the "wild caught" question eh?

The puffer toxins are not originated by the puffers, they are bacterial products that certain species of critters (puffers, newts, octopus, etc) can store and use for their own protection or for their food collection.