[limpet chicken]

Maybe, Jdurg, but unless someone is daft enough to eat blowfish, then they have no way to deliver TTX, there are a couple of species of octopus though, only about the size of a fist, but pack easily enough tetrodotoxin to kill a grown man.

[Bakegaku]

unless someone is daft enough to eat blowfish, then they have no way to deliver TTX

Ever heard of a dish called fugu?

there are a couple of species of octopus though, only about the size of a fist, but pack easily enough tetrodotoxin to kill a grown man.

That is true.  Quite possibly the most infamous poisonous octopus is the blue ring octopus.

Bakegaku, its not the cowries you want to worry about, but the cone shells

Hmm... you are actually correct!  I mixed them up.  I wanted to say cone shell at first... should've trusted my instict.

fierce snake

Yeah... this is what I meant when I said "fear snake."  They are pronounced quite similarly, you know.  

If you are after interesting animals how about the platypus?

Everyone knows what a platypus is!  Personally I like the echidna, though (may have spelled that wrong).

I knew about the spurs of the male platypus, but I believe they can only cause severe pain and numbness in the local area.  I don't think it can cause full paralysis and I'm quite certain there have been no reported deaths.

[limpet chicken]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-ringed_octopus

I just edited the page on the blue ringed octopi, after looking up a little on them, as it was claimed that cone snails used tedrodotoxin as venom

Hehehe, Bakegaku, thats what I meant by people dumb enough to eat puffer fish, fugu, some people seem to have more money than they do braincells

There are a less toxic group of snails, the spire or tower shells, I used to pick up the discarded shells washed upon the beach as a kid, but apparently they pack a similar sort of tooth, modified to deliver a neurotoxin, although apparently far milder than that of species like Conus Textile, and the geographer cone shell, two of the nastier varieties.

There are also horseshoe crabs, primitive little creatures, that apparently pack TTX in one or other of the species.

[Borek]

thats what I meant by people dumb enough to eat puffer fish, fugu, some people seem to have more money than they do braincells

Take no offence, but tell me what's a difference between eating fugu and experimenting with drugs?

I will not buy the explanation that selection of these drugs is based on knowledge so it is perfectly safe.

I have studied with a talented organic chemist back in eighties. He have died testing something he synthesized. We were not very close, but we did know each other.

Correctly prepared fugu is safe - so knowledge plays important part in both cases, and both things are dangerous.

If there is no difference - it was you who called fugu eaters dumb  

[limpet chicken]

Eating fugu just strikes me as, well, an extremely dangerous thing to do, for more or less no gain whatsoever, apart from perhaps a meal, if you consider that TTX can quite easily prove lethal at a dose of 0.5-1mg, for the sake of a quick snack on some sushi, however carefully prepared I don't think its worth the risk taken, it doesn't take much of a slip by the chef for it to become one's last meal.

Whereas with any recreational/spiritually used drug I can think of, there is quite a massively larger degree of safety, save only for etorphine, dihydroetorphine, a few fentanyl analogues etc, and as for myself, I wouldn't go near anything more potent than remifentanyl, and I certainly don't go buggering around with street products based on fentanyl or its analogues "china white" etc. unless perhaps, I had a friend standing over me with a syringe full of naloxone in case the clandestine chemist behind the synth in the first place cocked things up during dilution of the drug.

It is in my opinion, a matter of relative risk, to the possible benefits gained, dropping a few tabs, or vegging out for the day with a shot or two of morphine and an ounce of good green isn't going to do me in, not by a long way, but go out to the wrong sushi bar at the wrong time, and eating the wrong bit of (ugggh) raw fish, just might.

So, keep your poisonous raw fish, you are more than welcome to it

[mike]

Everyone knows what a platypus is!

haha, I wasn't trying to insinuate that you didn't I never know how much people know about Australia, some people don't even know we exist


On the subject of poisonous spiders, has anyone heard about daddylonglegs spider being the most venomous spider? People here always say: "Oh, they are the most venomous spider in the world, but their fangs are too small to bite humans." Sounds like an urban myth to me..

And speaking of urban myths and spiders, what about that crazy story about people eating on average like 8 spiders in their life/year or whatever... man that has got to be fake, who would do such a study?? I can gaurantee that I have never eaten (or heard of anyone eating) a huntsman spider by accident, lol

[Bakegaku]

hmm... personally I'd rather take the sushi.  Not to mention you can't be arrested for eating fugu!  They have some really strict regulations for who can be a fugu chef.  In the end you have to pass a really long test on the different kinds of fugu, which organs are poisonous, then cook a meal and eat it yourself.  About 30% pass the test (admittedly that's not a low ratio)(the other people do not necessarily die in the last test  ).  I'm not going to say anything about statistics because there are stats that say anything from one person to 100 people die from fugu poisoning a year in Japan.  Again, Wikipedia .  

But is it really all that crazy?  People are always doing crazy things that will get themselves killed.  Is eating fugu or taking substances any more dangerous than sky diving?  BASE jumping?  motorcycle stunts?  

On the subject of poisonous spiders, has anyone heard about daddylonglegs spider being the most venomous spider? People here always say: "Oh, they are the most venomous spider in the world, but their fangs are too small to bite humans." Sounds like an urban myth to me..

I am quite certain this is an urban myth.  I've heard it so many times, and people just blindly follow it all the time.  It doesn't take much depth to get into the blood vesscles, and the fangs of Daddy longlegs can be pretty large.  Another thing of notice is that they, like the camel spider, are not true spiders.

what about that crazy story about people eating on average like 8 spiders in their life/year or whatever

I hear all sorts of estimates.  I think this one may be true.  This is because if you sleep with your mouth open, and the spider crawls into the small, damp, warm area out of curiosity, you will subconsciously begin to chew.  I'm surprised you never hear someone in the morning complaining about a bad taste or spider parts in their mouth.  I would never want to eat a spider, no matter what kind.  I actually have a minor arachniphobia...  Only if they're on me or really close to me, though.  And of course it depends on things like what kind of spider, the appearance of the spider, the size of the spider etc.  A tarantula on the table next to me would freak me out more than a small spider crawling on my arm, for example.

[constant thinker]

I saw on Mythbusters that a daddylonglegs venom isn't as poisonous as the infamous black widow (which aren't the most poisonous spiders). Also a daddylonglegs fangs can pierce a human's flesh. They don't have nearly enough venom to be remotely lethal. I think the estimated like it would take 60 something bites (don't quote me on that) to kill a full grown man.

Also the eating spiders while you sleep thing, I think it's a yes and no thing. We probably don't average and 8 a year, but definatly quite a few (maybe more than in a life time. Only the small, harmless ones probably crawl in our mouths.

I think it was also a made up myth.

[mike]

I hear all sorts of estimates.  I think this one may be true.  

I just have trouble believing that someone could actually survey this kind of statistic. As you say people don't wake to find half a spider in their mouth and at the very least they wouldn't remember eating a spider in their sleep. I have a theory that someone has made this myth up and perpetuated it and it has become quite popular, almsot everyone seems to have heard of this statistic, but when questioned on whether they, or anyone they know has ever, EVER been surveyed on such a thing they haven't.

I wish I could start an urban legend...

[Bakegaku]

OK, I understand that.  It does seem like something that's extremely difficult to study.  Perhaps there was a team of scientists that stayed up all night, watching people to see if spiders crawled into their mouths.  

But, yes, it would be pretty difficult to find any kind of actual statistic.  I still think that we very well may eat a fair amount of spiders in our life time this way.

Regarding both the urban legends, interestingly, I think I heard some one say that they went to a summer camp that had you put up nets NOT because of mosquitos but because they were afraid that a daddy long leg spider would crawl into your mouth while you slept   :laughing2:

I wish I could start an urban legend...

Write a good one and I promise to tell everyone I know!  

[mike]

 

you might want to check this hit song out

 

http://www.compassbros.com.au/MUSIC/redback.mp3

[Bakegaku]

Kinda funny.  I suppose this is just a clip, though.

I think there was a black widow found in a toilet in my area, but I don't know if anyone sat on it  

[jdurg]

I have had fugu before.  Ate it at a Japanese restaurant in or around Philladelphia.  It was a sixty dollar meal which was a bit of a shock, but the fish has a REALLY good taste to it.  Something like a lobster type sweetness, but unique in its own right.  It also has a tiny bit of a tingle to the meat and that is due to incredibly miniscule amounts of tetrodotoxin in the flesh which numbs your tongue.  In addition, the tetrodotoxin from the fish is concentrated the most in the liver, but is also present in the spines.  If you were to get "poked" by the puffer fish it would put that toxin right into your blood stream which would be horrendously bad for your health.  

[mike]

As if you needed any more proof that spiders were dangerous:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/spiders-fiery-revenge-on-nudist/2006/04/02/1143916402771.html

[pantone159]

Ok, that has to qualify for a 'Darwin Award'.