Here's the question: is it possible to get high by licking a catfish? According to
this article by Tony Bridges, teenagers have recently been seen hanging around at docks around the Gulf of Mexico, asking fishermen if they have any extra catfish so they can lick them and get high. Supposedly something in the mucus that covers the skin of certain kinds of saltwater catfish contains hallucinogenic properties. I've heard this is true about some species of frogs, but whether it also holds true for catfish, I don't know. The article itself is noncommittal about whether the rumor is true. And, so far, I haven't been able to locate any credible research on the subject. My guess, without knowing anything about the biology of catfish, is that it's a load of codswallop.
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http://www.bufoalvarius.org/
The poison in fugu comes from toxic corals that the fish feed on. Most fugu served in restaurants are raised in farms where they are only fed nontoxic corals. I suspect the "several Japanese celebrities" that have died is an example of a Japanese urban legend. Like the kid from the Life cereal commercial dying from eating pop rocks. I know there was once a Japanese opera singer that was severely poisoned by eating bad fugu many years ago, but I don't think he actually died. That case is mentioned in "The Serpent and the Rainbow", and excellent book by a Harvard botanist about how natural toxins are used to create real life zombies in Haiti. Not to be confused with the horrible B-movie of the same title.
Hey dude, pass me some more of that catfish.
I stand corrected.
By the way, Wade Davis, author of "The Serpent and the Rainbow" mentioned above, has written elsewhere about smoking toads to get high.
He's a great storyteller, cut from the old swashbuckling style of ethnobotanists.
everyone shuld do this.. its
GREAATTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!