Both are perpetrators of puffer poisoning. Most puffers like in warm, shallow, tropical waters, and readers of Those from the Pacific Northwest will be relived to learn that they are rare along our coast. Besides being poisonous, puffers are best known for their ability to inflate themselves by gulping in a large amount of air or water whenever they are frightened or annoyed, leaving predators unable to swallow them. The liver, reproductive organs, kidneys, eyes, intestines, and skin are the most toxic parts. The amount of poison in a fish varies according to the species, its sex, the part of its body, the time of year, and where it was caught.
Highest concentrations occur at spawning time, when the gonads are at their most poisonous.
Its not a pretty picture Puffer poisoning, in its worst form, causes paralysis of the nerves and muscles. Soon, if enough poison has been swallowed, the entire body becomes numb, and nausea, headache, increased salivation, diarrhea, blistering and severe scaling of the skin set in. Then comes twitching, convulsions, difficulty in swallowing and breathing, inability to talk or walk, and, in the end, paralysis. As if these symptoms weren't enough to scare us all off of puffer-partaking, there are two instances reported in which victims remained paralyzed for several days each. Both revived and walked away, and both reported being aware of what was going in at all times.