Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A potent neurotoxin, C11H17N3O8, found in many pufferfishes and certain other animals, including some salamanders and crabs.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A neurotoxin found in Tetraodontiformes such as pufferfish.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a powerful neurotoxin found in the ovaries of pufferfish

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Shortening and alteration of New Latin Tetraodōn, pufferfish genus (Greek tetra-, tetra- + New Latin -odōn, -odon (so called because members of the genus have two upper and two lower teeth)) + toxin.]

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  • Tetrodotoxin is found in two marine creatures : the blue-ringed octopus and the pufferfish.
    The poisonous part of the pufferfish is found in its ovaries. This poison is not destroyed by cooking although experts say, if the entrails are removed before cooking, the fish is usually harmless. Used in the Japanese delicacy fugu, puffer fish can only be cooked and prepared by specially trained and licensed chefs. Even so, from 1955 through 1975 there were more than 1,500 fatalities caused by eating improperly prepared fugu. (I haven't looked up any new fatality statistics yet.)

    February 27, 2015