Hiroshi Takahashi, an associate professor at the National Fisheries University, first noticed the increase in hybrid pufferfish six years ago. The rise in hybrid species is yet another example of the sweeping impact of climate change on marine creatures, which have undergone a mass migration as water temperatures increase. Slideshow ( 21 images ) SWEEPING IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE By 9, an experienced fish handler is at his post in an apron and hairnet, sorting as many as seven or eight different groupings of pufferfish at a metal counter.
#Fugu north port skin
Confusingly, the location of the deadly neurotoxin differs in certain types of pufferfish it can sometimes be found in its skin or muscle, as well as its reproductive organs.Įvery morning at 8 a.m., Kaniya receives boxes of pufferfish from fishermen in northern Japan. Chefs and fish butchers handling pufferfish are specially trained and licensed to remove its liver and reproductive organs, which contain tetrodotoxin, a potent neurotoxin. Out of 50 or so species of pufferfish found around Japan, 22 of them are approved as edible by the government. “But we have to follow the rules, because if there’s any problems it leads to hysteria,” says Naoto Itou, the gruff patriarch of the company. Kaniya, a seafood-processing company here in Shimonoseki, is one of many in the industry frustrated by the government’s rule to discard such hybrids, considering that most subspecies of pufferfish frequently found in Japan’s northeastern waters have poison in the same organs and can be safely eaten if handled correctly. With the rise of these unclassifiable hybrids, fishermen and fish traders are having to discard a sizable share of their catch. To avoid accidental poisonings, Japan prohibits their sale and distribution. The problem is that they can be hard to distinguish from established species. Hybrids are no more dangerous than your average lethal pufferfish.
With pufferfish heading north to seek cooler waters, sibling species of the fish have begun to inter-breed, triggering a sudden increase in the number of hybrid fish. When a supermarket in western Japan accidentally sold five packets of the fish without its poisonous liver removed in January, the town used its missile alert system to warn residents.Īnd now, climate change is adding a new element of risk: Fishermen are discovering an unprecedented number of hybrid species in their catch as seas surrounding the archipelago – particularly off the northeastern coast – see some of the fastest rates of warming in the world. News of poisonings elicits fevered national coverage. A kilogram fetches as much as 30,000 yen at the market here, and in the December holiday season, when fugu is particularly popular, a luxury fishmonger in Tokyo can sell up to $88,000 worth of the fish on any given day.
Although deaths are extremely rare, the whiff of danger associated with the fish’s poison is a significant element of the delicacy’s enduring allure in Japanese culture.