Bullet proof Dominicans

mart1n

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Jul 13, 2006
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I live in the countryside and the family went fishing after preparing the meal they asked me if I would like some I asked what type of fish and found out it was puffer fish I went into shock. I sailed around for 6 years before I ended up here one of the fish I understood was poisonous was the puffer fish. The person who caught the fish said he eats it all the time. Either they are very lucky or the puffer fish in this area are not poisonous. Does anyone have more information on these fish?
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Almost all pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin, a deadly toxin that is up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. The poison in one pufferfish is enough to wipe out 30 humans, and there's no known antidote. Yet, many people eat it.

Fugu or puffer fish can be lethally poisonous due to its tetrodotoxin; therefore, it must be carefully prepared to remove toxic parts and to avoid contaminating the meat.

The restaurant preparation of fugu is strictly controlled by law in Japan and several other countries, and only chefs who have qualified after three or more years of rigorous training are allowed to prepare the fish. Domestic preparation occasionally leads to accidental death.

Fugu is served as sashimi and chirinabe. Some consider the liver the tastiest part, but it is also the most poisonous, and serving this organ in restaurants was banned in Japan in 1984. Fugu has become one of the most celebrated and notorious dishes in Japanese cuisine.

So, if you are eating locally prepared puffer fish, you have to ask yourself, "Am I feeling lucky today?"
 

HUG

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Feb 3, 2009
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The Japs eat alot of this fish don't they? Delicacy, apparently. Must be damn nice meat to be worth the risk. Never seen it in a Dominican Restaurant before though.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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pez globo and puerco esp?n de mar in Spanish from what I could find. Here in the DR, they may have a different name.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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The Japs eat alot of this fish don't they? Delicacy, apparently. Must be damn nice meat to be worth the risk. Never seen it in a Dominican Restaurant before though.

Chefs have to undergo three years of training before serving it in Japan. In the DR, probably 3 seconds.
 

ROLLOUT

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Jan 30, 2012
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Catch them quite often while fishing. They've got a set of nasty looking chompers, so I takes the pliers to them and throw them on the bank. It says something when even the pelicans won't touch them.
 

VJS

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Sep 19, 2010
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Puffer fish aka Fugu that they eat in Japan is called pez globo in Spanish (the highly poisonous one). Pez guanabana is related but different fish, either not poisonous or with trace levels of TTX.
 

Auryn

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Apr 22, 2012
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Puffer fish aka Fugu that they eat in Japan is called pez globo in Spanish (the highly poisonous one). Pez guanabana is related but different fish, either not poisonous or with trace levels of TTX.

A guy selling one variety of the dried, preserved, inflated puffer fish once told me that for eating, one is much more poisonous than the other as well. I think he said that the globo was more toxic and that was what he was selling as a "taxidermied" souvenir.
 
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HUG

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Feb 3, 2009
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Catch them quite often while fishing. They've got a set of nasty looking chompers, so I takes the pliers to them and throw them on the bank. It says something when even the pelicans won't touch them.

Pretty nasty thing to do, pointless.
 
Jan 7, 2016
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A guy selling one variety of the dried, preserved, inflated puffer fish once told me that for eating, one is much more poisonous than the other as well. I think he said that the globo was more toxic and that was what he was selling as a "taxidermied" souvenir.

Our neighboring condo had a light fixture on the balcony made from a Puffer Fish...looked quite nice at night when lit from inside...only trouble was it was a "little flammable" and eventually disintegrated...;)
 

Garyexpat

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Sep 7, 2012
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Catch them quite often while fishing. They've got a set of nasty looking chompers, so I takes the pliers to them and throw them on the bank. It says something when even the pelicans won't touch them.

I knew guys who thew Carp up on the river bank growing up in Pa. They weren't indigenous and ate the Small Mouth Bass eggs so I didn't really mind it (although I never did it). But if these puffer fish are indigenous I don't get why you would do that. Before you get the wrong idea about me I firmly believe that PETA stands for People eating tasty animals but they must play a role if indigenous.
 

Manzana

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Jan 23, 2007
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The preparation of Fugu in Japan skillfully leaves just a little of the toxin which acts as a drug producing sensations customers enjoy. Despite the controls though people do die from it occasionally.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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so dominicans eat puffer fish yet will not open the fridge after ironing. makes sense.