Egyptian media reported that 5 people from one family had food poisoning due to eating poisonous rabbit fish. What is this fish?
And what is the poison in it?
What are the symptoms of poisoning?
Does he have a serum?
What are the names of rabbit fish?
What is its scientific name?
The scientific name of the fish is the rabbit fish (Rabbitfishes), and it is also known as ticks because of its sharp, pointed teeth, and puffs because it blows when it feels afraid, according to a video published by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population on its Twitter account.
According to the FAO, rabbit fish includes 28 species belonging to the genus Siganus, distributed across the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea and the Gulf to Polynesia, and from Japan to southern Australia.
What is the danger?
The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population said that the rabbit fish is distinguished by its gray skin, and warned citizens not to eat or catch it, and said that it is "a poisonous fish that leads to death, and the poison does not have a serum to heal, and it is known as the most deadly fish in the world."
Why is the rabbit fish dangerous?
This fish has poisonous glands under the skin, viscera, marrow, liver and meat.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population had warned of rabbit fish in 2021 (Al-Jazeera)
What poison do you produce?
The poison found in this fish is tetrodotoxin, and it has no cure yet, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population.
Where do you live?
It is found in the Red Sea and the oceans, and it reached the waters of the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.
What do you feed on?
This fish feeds on fish droppings and types of poisonous algae.
What are the symptoms of poisoning?
The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population said that when eating this fish, symptoms of poisoning begin to appear within 20 minutes to an hour, and symptoms may be delayed up to two days, and its poison may cause death within 6 to 8 hours.
Symptoms of poisoning include:
Abdominal pain
Nausea
vomiting
diarrhea
Muscle weakness and paralysis
Reduction of Blood pressure
low heart rate
body numbness
shortness of breath
It may lead to paralysis or coma
Why is the rabbit fish one of the most dangerous fish in the world?
Professor of Environmental Sciences at the Department of Biology at the Islamic University of Gaza, Abdel Fattah Abd Rabbo, said - in previous statements to Anadolu Agency - that the rabbit fish is "one of the most dangerous fish in the world because it contains a deadly poison as it feeds on toxic algae."
Abd Rabbo added to Anatolia, "This type of fish came from the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, before it spread there."
He explains that the fish, also known as "fugu" and "stingray", is eaten in Japan.
And he added, "But they (the residents of Japan) deal with it with great caution through specialists, because it contains deadly toxins."
He indicated that the symptoms of poisoning in humans differ from one person to another, according to the strength of the body's immunity or the amount of poison ingested.
The Ministry of Health and Population warns citizens against eating or catching poisonous stingrays
, “a poisonous fish that leads to death, and the poison has no cure, and it is known as the deadliest fish in the world.”
pic.twitter.com/L8zflfdvmx
— Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population (@mohpegypt) May 8, 2022
Rabbit fish is prohibited
In turn, Zakaria Bakr, a specialist in the marine fishing sector in Gaza, said - in previous statements to Anadolu Agency - that fishing and selling rabbit fish have been prohibited for several years.
Bakr added to Anadolu Agency, "Any fisherman who is found to be marketing rabbit fish will be prosecuted legally."
He pointed out that "the sector's markets are devoid of these fish, as they are poisonous and may kill the eaters."
But he mentioned that many fishermen caught in their nets eat it because they are unable to sell it in the markets.
What happened to the Egyptian family that was poisoned?
According to the seventh day newspaper, "the five cases were discharged from the Nasr Specialized Hospital, which is affiliated with the comprehensive health insurance system in Port Said, after they recovered and received the necessary medical services."
The newspaper quoted the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in Port Said, Dr. Ahmed Hassan Abu Hashem, warning citizens against eating rabbit fish, as it poses a severe threat to health, up to food poisoning and death.
Avoid eating poisonous rabbit fish
In turn, the Port Said Health Directorate appealed to citizens - in a statement on its Facebook page, which was verified by the Sanad Monitoring and Verification Agency in Al Jazeera Network - to stay away from eating that poisonous fish once and for all.
The directorate pointed out that the symptoms of poisoning begin with relaxation in the joints and muscles, nausea and headache, and in the case of concentrated poison, death occurs after the victim enters a complete coma if he is not treated quickly. The poison in this fish is concentrated in 3 different places of its body, under the skin, near the viscera and next The marrow, and its liver is very toxic.
The statement revealed that the accumulation of toxic substances also in the teeth of the fish due to the decomposition of its food, which includes a type of toxic green algae, and that fish is one of the aggressive fish that eats small fish and fish larvae.
Big liver in rabbit fish
The statement pointed out that some citizens are tempted by the large liver in that fish, and it is eaten with food, which puts their lives at risk, and despite the attempt of the housewife or the fish seller to clean and skin it, whoever eats it suffers as a result of not mastering the removal of toxic glands from it, which causes immediate death. .
The statement warned some traders who skinned the fish and sold it in the form of fillets to hide its features so that citizens would not be able to know its type from criminal accountability that exposes them to imprisonment.