Poisonous pufferfish washed up
EAGLE-EYED wildlife enthusiast Constance Morris was surprised to find that a dead fish she spotted on a beach in Cornwall was a highly poisonous oceanic pufferfish. The rare fish contains a toxin 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. She was so taken with the deadly fish that it’s currently in her freezer – but for education purposes only.
Constance, from Penzance, was on a family holiday in Newquay when she spotted some gulls pecking at a fish on Towan Beach. Being someone who records dead marine animals for Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Marine Stranding Network, she felt she had to investigate.
She said: “As I walked up to the fish I instantly knew it was an unusual find – it’s a bit under a foot, silver back, flabby white underside, stubby face which concealed its most noticeable feature, its beak. None of our local fish have beaks and they are usually found on things like coral-eating fish, so I knew it was something a bit more tropical.
“I didn’t know what this fish was, but I’ve found odd fish before and know these animals can be important and of interest to scientists, so being ever ready to scoop something unpleasant off the beach I bagged it up and put it in my backpack.”
The fish has since been identified as a Lagocephalus lagocephalus, the oceanic pufferfish, which can be highly toxic. Though indigenous to the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans as well as the Sea of Japan, a surge in its distribution throughout the Mediterranean Sea has been reported in recent years. It is rarely found in British waters.
Constance added: “It’s advised to leave alone and certainly not to touch. I am just lucky I carry a kit with me at all times for just this sort of thing. They do turn up in our waters every now and then, but it’s still very important to record them, it gives a better indication of what’s going on in our oceans.
“I currently still have the fish. I was going to keep it as I do school talks about our local marine wildlife, but think this one should go somewhere better suited. I am waiting to hear back from the Natural History Museum to see if they want it.”
Matt Slater, a marine conservation officer with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, verified it was an Atlantic oceanic puffer and said he had only a handful of records of the species washing up. “They can produce toxic slime so they’re best to handle with gloves. Like all puffers they produce tetrodotoxin which is dangerous especially if eaten,” he added.
If you find a dead marine animal in contact the Marine Strandings Network’s hotline 0345 201 2626.