# Guess you guys/girls are aware of this



## wizardude (May 19, 2002)

PUFFER FISH BAN EXTENDED BY FWC


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## Mullet Wrangler (Jul 4, 2003)

Who the heck is eating puffers anyway? They must already be sick in the head! :barf:


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## ccc6588 (Jun 20, 2003)

I did catch a large puffer fish at Sebastian Inlet while I was there during Thanksgiving week. These were black and white and the locals said it was huge. I knew about the warning from last year so I promptly put him back in the water.

In Virginia Puffers are more brownish in color. They are an exceptionally good table fish. Years ago people use to throw them away, but very few people in Va. do now. Many target them specifically. In the north they are called the puffers "Chicken of the Sea" and are very expensive like filet mignon. In the store they kinda look like a drum stick. You clean them like skinning a catfish. Cut the skin around the neck and pull and clean out the guts. Of course the puffer is the ultimate sashimi in Japan where the dish is prepared by expert chefs and cost plenty. People occassionally die from eating them and the chef loses face. The toxins are most prevalent in the roe and guts. 

I would take the advice and not eat them.


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## Kozlow (Oct 25, 2002)

FYI What are puffer fish?
http://okok.essortment.com/puffersfish_rbgg.htm













I will have to pass on them there are alot of other fish out there alot less deadly to eat . But thanks for the heads up .


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## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

Mmm...I love puffers. They're easy to clean and are absolutely delicious when fried in hot oil.

And ccc6588, the dish you're talking about is called fugu. As a sushi fan, I admit that I would probably try it if I had a well trained sushi chef to prepare it. Yeah, yeah...I'm gross. Supposedly small amounts of the tetrodotoxin in the fish makes your lips tingle. But if they tingle too much, you have about one minute left to live.

The puffers off our coast aren't quite as dangerous, but you do have to avoid the guts at all costs. They can still kill you. Here's a video on how to clean them.


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## Atticus (Nov 4, 2003)

> But if they tingle too much, you have about one minute left to live.


Now THAT's extreme sushi


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## emanuel (Apr 2, 2002)

I've caught a few of those here in the springtime. I've thought about eating them a couple times when I couldn't catch anything else.


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## mblanken (Nov 4, 2003)

I hate puffers with every cell in my body. They are without a doubt the worst thing about bottom fishing with shrimp around bridges in the Indian River. They look and feel like big boogers and have two teeth like a beak that'd take the end off your finger off if you tried to dislodge a hook ...which they almost always swallow...from their mouths. 

And if there's any kind of high-end market for those things anywhere in the world, there's a gold mine in the Indian River near Cocoa. I think there's about one puffer for every square yard of river bottom. My wife caught 20 in a couple of hours one day last Feb. fishing there.


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## ccc6588 (Jun 20, 2003)

Take the advice in Florida and don't eat them. 

Besides, the one I caught in Florida looked poisonous if you know what I mean. I never thought I would catch a fish uglier than our Toadfish, but the spiny black and white one I caught in Sebastian must have been the ugliest thing I have ever caught. 

The ones in Va. are kinda cute looking. 

That video was cool.


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## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

ccc6588 said:


> *Take the advice in Florida and don't eat them. *


Absolutely. I was in no way suggesting anyone in Fla. eat these critters against the advisory. I was just saying that when the ban is lifted, you might want to consider giving them a taste.


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## leadslinger (May 12, 2002)

In case you did not know puffers are a key ingrediant for the powder used to create ZOMBIES. Don't take losing you mental capacities litely. Just looking out.


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