Does puffer fish skin release ttx toxin?

[Fat Homer]

So in the general discussion section some one mentioned fish can get poisoned / killed from picking on a puffer, not eating it, just picking on it...

So im curious if any one has any actual evidence of this?

Do puffers release TTX through their skin? Or is it strictly only if they actually eat the dead body or actual meat of the puffer that they get poisoned?


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[eklikewhoa]

It's in the skin, the fish would have to mouth the puffer to be effected.

Not the first incident I seen where a fish mouthing the puffer died shortly after.

 

[Fat Homer]

Sorry, but what exactly do you mean mouth the puffer? Do you mean the culprit fish would have to put its whole mouth on the puffer?

Coz my yellow lab always tried to "bite" or mouth my fahaka to get her to move, obviously to no avail and is still alive and kicking almost 2 years later...

So yeah, just trying to work out if its true or not...

Also is there any proof of the fact that puffers skin release TTX?

Again, not doubting you, just want to see more evidence to solidify the theory in my mind...


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[petspoiler]

quite possibly, different fish species vary in sensitivity to very minute exposure.
they do with other toxins.

 

[ride1226]

Not only that, but from what I understand puffers in captivity dont produce tetraodotoxin, or atleast in large amounts. In the wild they eat these other dirty shellfish that give them the ingredients to put out the toxin, and the clean foods we feed them dont allow such a large level to be produced. I may be wrong though.

 

[eklikewhoa]

Not all puffers are necessarily poisonous and toxin level varies wildly even in fish that are.

Also with your labs it could be that they are just pushing the puffer and not necessarily "mouthing" or biting down on the puffer.

 

[Fat Homer]

With the yellow lab definitely bites my fahaka... Mouth as wide open as possible bittig down although never does anything to her...


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[puffykid]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraodontidae


I think that even when it comes to being in the skin though the flesh itself has to be eaten for the poison to be released. I don't think a simple bite can cause the poison to leak out because the toxin is in the tissue for example when people die from eating the fugu puffer its due to the fish not being cut right and poison remaining within the meat. The main defense of a puffer is to inflate, the poison itself is mainly to kill the predator that ate it. The cow fish which is a close relative of puffers can eject poison into the water column, I don't believe puffers can do the same.


interesting read if you only skim cause they talk a lot of nerd science
http://www.terrapub.co.jp/onlineproceedings/fs/nu/pdf/nu2010227.pdf

 

[Fat Homer]

^ See thats was / is my belief as well... i know that if a Fugu chef who doesn't clean or prepare the fish properly can cause many problems for the consumer...

I also know that the cow / box fish can nuke a tank when it dies, which is why so many people try and avoid keeping them with anything expensive or try to keep them alone...

Now my problem with the theory is, if puffers can release TTX through their skin is, wouldn't it over time cause the whole tank to be toxic to a certain degree? Kinda like fire belly newts and how they have toxins on their skin and it is known to slowly leech / contaminate a tank?

 

[Fat Homer]

Hmmmm... No one else got any thoughts or references? Kinda surprised PP never dropped in, since i was hoping she might have some insight on this...


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