Finding Fugu

Dr Sally Troy- National Oceans Office

Don Staniferd
Salmon Farm Protest Group

Anth is still flying solo, with Peter butchering the weather - hurry back Bron.

The exciting news of the week is that the Bermuda triangle may be just a big fart - according to physicists from Monash Uni huge methane bubbles released from decomposing organic matter on the sea floor rises to the surface and causing boats to capsize and potentially the cloud of gas could cause plane engines to explode.

Collective nouns included a stand of flamingos and a glide of flying fish.

Thanks to our listeners who suggested this as Peter's next challenge (after scuba diving and sailing on a square rigger on the bay) Like anything new, it is important to research the risk first. I decided to start with what is fugu - the poisonous blowfish, a peculiar fish native to the Pacific Ocean.

It's been called a chubby little puff of a fish with big expressive eyes, a lovely metallic color and enough neurotoxins in its body to kill dozens of human predators. Follow the link for more info

The pufferfish boasts the ability to inflate its body and project protective spikes. After filling its mouth with water, the fish flexes a muscle at the base of the oral valve which then catapults forward against the entire front of the mouth, forming a tight seal against the back of the front teeth.

This prevents the water from escaping while a "plunger" type of apparatus -a mechanism driven by a highly modified gill arch called a branchiostegal ray-mounted at the base of the throat forces the water upward where it shoots down the fish's esophagus and into its stomach. Puffers have stomachs and skin of unparalleled elasticity. Unimpeded by ribs (puffers don't have them), the fish's water- (or air-) filled stomachs are thus free to balloon, making their owners a difficult mouthful indeed for any passing predator

It is the ultimate drinking competition winner.

What makes it toxic ?

Tetrodotoxin is 10,000 times more lethal than cyanide. It is perhaps the most potent toxin present in nature. It is present in other animals besides pufferfish, with the blue-ringed octopus, harlequin frogs, and rough-skinned newts.

Tetrodotoxin affects the nervous system in such a way as to prevent the propagation of nerve impulses. It works because nerves need both Na and K ions to produce the electrical messages (action potentials). Ultimately, this sends the right message to the muscle fiber.

It does not cross the blood-brain barrier, it inhibits the ability of our nerves to send messages to other parts of our body - not the brain

Tetrodotoxin binds itself to the sodium ion, shutting down the entire "message-sending" process, and the impulse never gets to its destination.

So do people die ?

100-200 of people become ill each year after eating "fugu", each year. Roughly half of these intoxifications are fatal, even with immediate treatment. Fugu deaths in Japan range from 70-100 fatalities each year, mostly due to improper preparation methods, or because diners insist on eating fugu organs, which are the most toxic parts of the fish and the most difficult to cook safely.

What is poisoning like ?

let's say your sushi chef had a little too much sake the night before and goofed a bit while preparing your meal of pufferfish

The first signs that something is awry is a slight numbness in the lips and tongue - like chilli. The numbness increases and spreads to face and throat. The initial symptoms involuntary muscle spasms, weakness, dizziness, and loss of speech.

Excessive salivation and sweating follow, slowed heart rate and a drop in body temperature are common. Soon experience respiratory distress, marked by rapid, shallow breathing.

The secondary stage of the poisoning involves increased paralysis. From this point on it's pretty much downhill, with increase in paralysis, apparent mental impairment and convulsions followed by cardiac arrhythmia.

As tetrodotoxin doesn't cross the brain-blood barrier - brain is not directly affected by this toxin. Fugu poisoning survivors report that they were completely lucid during the entire event

One Japanese consumer of fugu was left for dead while Japanese authorities waited to transport his corpse to another district for burial. He woke up eight days later, having been totally conscious of everything.

Another regained consciousness at the crematorium - just as his body was being lifted off the burial cart.

In certain regions of Japan, the body of a person who "dies" after eating fugu is left lying beside his own coffin for three days before being buried - just to make sure. If the body doesn't decompose, it isn't dead!

The toxin is the main ingredient in zombie making practices in Haiti and West Africa.

So is it safe ? -Fugu is the sole delicacy which is not permitted to be served to the Japanese emperor

The fugu ritual

It takes about 10 years to become a full-fledged fugu chef and the process starts with a rigorous training program

The Japanese government has a three-part fugu exam. You have to pass
· a written test,
· a fugu species identification test, and
· a practical cooking exam in which you have to clean, detoxify and fillet the fish in split-second time

How is it served ?

First, the blowfish to be eaten is shown to the diners.

The sushi chef removes the 11 deadly parts of the fish, including the skeleton, skin, ovaries, intestines, and liver

The fins are then removed and fried, then served in hot sake, known as Fugu Hire-zake.

The blowfish skin is de-spiked with pliers, and the skin is then placed in a salad known as Yubiki, flavored with a vinegar/soy dressing called Ponzu. The head is cut off and the chef fillets the fish for use in sashimi and then served

Traditional serving: thin, almost translucent slices with a sort of milky, rippled appearance, fanned out with a curly heap of fugu skin gathered at the base.

This presentation is meant to resemble a chrysanthemum, the Japanese funeral flower and symbol of death.

A couple of poems add to the mystique

whoever I meet
popular subject
fugu accident

I cannot see her tonight.
I have to give her up
So I will eat fugu.

Ahh...the innocent pufferfish. Bastard...

So what is it like to eat

A couple of people who did wrote it down.

"I wish I could say it was the best thing I'd ever had. And while it tasted good--an impossibly delicate flavor, clean and sort of elusive, like an ethereal calamari but soooo soft and supple, not fishy at all--it wasn't, like, life-threateningly phenomenal.

But for sashimi lovers, it is a compelling experience: Fugu tastes so intriguingly different, so subtle, you forget you're eating raw seafood.

Fugu skin tastes decidedly more oceanic, more reminiscent of saltwater, with a tougher, chewier texture, like slippery rubber bands.

Side note: while eating fugu, that awful Aerosmith power ballad from Armageddon was playing on the stereo. And I refuse to die to the soundtrack of a Jerry Bruckheimer film. No way.

So, I didn't die. But I'm still totally fascinated. I wanted to try fugu in the first place because, well, I wanted to see if it was worth the gamble. It's not. "

Another person was offered a slice with a bow while researching a story - impossible to refuse. Unpardonable offense to refuse. Eat it or cut off my head for shame.

"I venture a sliver, embarrassed to realize, for the first time in my life, that I'd sooner die than die of embarrassment. The fugu is as tasteless as tofu. It feels like jello rind without the cheery cherry flavor. What's all the fuss about?

But then why do so many gourmets put their lives in the hands of sushi chefs?

The truth is that fugu is addictive. Enough of the neurotoxin remains to produce a mellow tingling glow, a flush and a drug rush.

You might ask why not just leave the bloody fish in the ocean? Why go the expense, trouble, and risk... Ah, but eating fugu is an ancient and hallowed Japanese tradition. And it can not be explained".

I think it can - as the introduction to a new narcotic drug - one you don't smoke, inhale or inject, but rather one you harvest, cut out the really bad bits and eat with a light sauce.

If instead it came as a fine white powder…..

Remember it was banned for a large number of years, because too many people were dying

How does this sound in relation to a range of drugs.

Did I try fugu ?

· Fugu is only eaten in winter when the toxin levels are lower.

· No - I am happy to say the after the research came to the conclusion that trying more drugs was not my scene, and that fugu was the opium poppy of the sea.

The global census of marine life. A 10 year international plan to find out what we know, what we don't know and what we can never know. Around 55 countries are taking part in the census to get a bigger bang for their bucks counting and listing EVERYTHING living in the ocean (mainly animals - unfortunately not plants)

It is both about pulling together the existing information to get a better picture of the information that is available. At the moment it is finding 30 new species a week!

The most expensive bit is the field work where 7 major programs are running. These include tagging pelagic fish, exploring hydrothermal vents and abyssal plains.

One of the key entry criteria is that participating organisations need to make the intellectual property available to all - not locked up with any one organisation - so it will be ALL publicly available.

To get more information on the census follow the link.

Battery farming in the sea - and as per usual there are good and bad types of aquaculture (as with any type of agriculture).

Caged carnivorous fish farming is one of the worst - like farming lions, tigers and wolves on land - something that farmers would never try. These fish are fed wild, caught fish - so you are using up wild fish to make farmed fish. With kingfish, you have to harvest 5 kg of fish to grow 1 kg of the kingfish. It's even more for salmon - it takes 20 kgs to grow 1kg! That's quite an environmental subsidy.

This doesn't make economic or ecological sense. And nor do some of the ideas behind managing their diet (i.e., turning them into herbivores).

According to Don, there are 5 key issues to deal with moving forward:

Waste issues
Mass escapes
Diseases and parasites
Chemical use
What to feed them

For more information follow up their website.

"A Long long time"

" Otherwise Open "

" I am a Cuckoo"

Sodastream

Belle and Sebastian

Mornington water is chocolate brow, but the vis at Portsea was 6 - 7. The water is warmer than the land, and the water is dead flat.