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Fish Poison Makes Hot Feel Cold and Vice Versa

Posted by kdawson on from the rhymes-with-fugu dept.

SoyChemist writes "Ciguatoxin causes bizarre neurological symptoms including temperature reversal, a burning sensation, and an imaginary feeling of loose teeth. It is produced by algae and accumulates in the fatty flesh of tropical fish. While traveling to the tropics, a man from England ate some bad seafood that contained the unusual poison. His story, and the tale of some unfortunate sailors of an earlier age who suffered the same affliction, appeared in the current issue of Practical Neurology and was summarized on the Wired Science Blog. Both the Wired blog and the peer-reviewed journal neglected to mention that the potent neurotoxin has been made from scratch by organic chemists."

2 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Remember when... by The_Mystic_For_Real · · Score: 5, Informative

    Remember when submitters used to mark links that required payment?

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    Thank you.

  2. Ciguatera is Common knowledge by waimate · · Score: 5, Informative

    C'mon, this is common knowledge among people who hang around the pacific. If you catch a large fish, don't eat the whole thing... eat some, and share around to dilute the risk. People have known this for over 30 years. Large fish have higher risk just because they are older.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciguatera