If a fisherman catches a puffer fish, they will never touch the spikes as they are highly toxic to humans and animals. If however, an animal does manage to eat the puffer fish, it will often be poisoned by the toxins in the spikes or the toxin that is released from the organs of the puffer fish when it dies.

One may also ask, are puffer fish spines poisonous? Those of most puffers are hidden until they inflate, while the porcupinefish have external spines that are always visible. Note that this is a toxin, not a venom, meaning that the fish does not inject poison through its spines or by biting but that the fish is extremely poisonous if ingested.

Besides, can touching a puffer fish kill you?

I was touching it and holding it. Little did I know that there is enough toxin in a puffer fish to kill 30 human beings. The toxin is mostly internal, but it does reside on their skin and spines (he was puffed). To give you an idea of the toxicity – it is 1200 times more poisonous than cyanide.

What happens if you eat a puffer fish?

Pufferfish Poisoning Symptoms Symptoms generally occur 10-45 minutes after eating the pufferfish poison and begin with numbness and tingling around the mouth, salivation, nausea, and vomiting. Symptoms may progress to paralysis, loss of consciousness, and respiratory failure, and can lead to death.