I first heard about dolphins getting high on my favorite pod cast called ‘No such thing as a Fish’ and got curious. Almost immediately I went onto Google to find out more.

The fact is that dolphins bite on puffer fish to get high. They even pass the puffer fish among each other! Video footage of the BBC One documentary ‘Spy in the Pod” seems to proof that dolphins purposely get high. Or is it all speculation?

Anyway, after gently chewing on the puffer fish the dolphins started acting very peculiar.

Puffer fish contain a toxin called tetrodotoxin. It comes from eating other animals infested with a tetrodotoxin-laden bacteria, which over time the puffer fish have developed an insensitivity.

The Japanese have been eating fugu for centuries. It is an expensive luxury delicacy to eat puffer fish or fugu. The dish must be prepared by a licensed chef. This involves a 3 year’s apprenticeship, a written exam and preparing and eating the fish. Only about 35% of the applicants pass. It is not allowed to prepare it at home and even today it is forbidden for the Japanese royal family to eat fugu.

The poison is in the organs of the puffer fish, especially the liver, ovaries, eyes and skin. The poison paralyzes the muscles while the victim stays fully conscious. The poisoned victim is unable to breathe and eventually dies from asphyxiation. There is no know antidote for fugu poison.

Other sea creatures like the sea bream also called dream fish, produces vivid visual and auditory hallucinations, much like tripping on acid. Also the flathead grey mullet, yellow striped goat fish, blue sea chub, convict surgeon fish and the coral grouper supposedly have hallucinogenic capabilities. This just might change how I will look at fish in the future.