Toxicity of a Puffer, Takifugu vermicularis-1 Toxicity of Alive T. vermicularis from Japan and Korea

Four poisoning incidents due to ingestion of raw muscle of imported “Nashi-fugu” puffer occured in Japan during 1989-90. We therefore investigated the anatomical and local variations of the toxicity of this puffer, using both alive and frozen specimens from Japanese and Korean seas.All muscles from alive specimens, 35 from Japanese sources, 30 from Korea and 20 from the Yellow Sea, were non-toxic. Skins were toxic (47±55MU/g in Japan, 73±70MU/g in Korea, and 57±140MU/g in the Yellow Sea). On the other hand, muscles from all frozen specimens were toxic (20±26MU/g in Japan and 20±13MU/g in Korea). The muscles from the frozen specimens might have been contaminated with toxin from the skin, which generally showed high toxicity. The above poisoning incidents were considered likely to have been caused by such contaminated muscle.