Fugu


Live Swimming Fugu [Pufferfish, Blowfish, Boh-guh (korea), Family Tetraodontidae, usually some species of genus Takifugu (commonly Takifugu rubripes (photo)), Lagocephalus or Sphoeroides but also Diodon]

A family of fish that puff up to several times their normal size when threatened, common in tropical seas, particularly near reefs. Fugu is considered a great delicacy in Japan (and Korea) where it is extremely expensive and served raw in highly decorative arrangements. It's prepared only by trained and licensed fugu chefs - because the eyes and internals are so toxic one fish can kill 30 people.

Non-toxic fugu can be farm raised because they don't make the poison themselves, they have to consume certain bacteria to do it. Non-toxic fugu has generated little interest - without the risk of death it's just another fish. Puffers have long been eaten in Florida but are now banned taken from some waters due to a different bacterial toxin. Fugu is not considered threatened but is not generally marketed in North America.   Photo by Chris 73 distuributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike v3.0 Unported.

More on Varieties of Fish (very large page).


Fugu slices A plate of fugu sashimi. When you're paying that kind of money you get some pretty fancy presentations.   Photo distuributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike v3.0.

Puffed Fugu The most familiar puffer fish, Diodon holocanthus, is sometimes used to prepare fugu dishes.   Photo by Ibrahim Iujaz distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution v2.0 Generic.

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