Dolphins getting high off of puffer fish neurotoxin

[Type Username Here]

 

[DEAD7]

 

[Blackout]

No way

 

[Bay Area]

Dolphins are legit

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

I read an article from a biologist recently who said there is no proof they're purposely trying to get high off it and BBC was being sensationalistic. I'll try to find it later.

 

[Pool_Shark]

Looked into it and found these.

But it could also be just another day in the dolphin pod — ignore the spiky lethal fish, and the behavior isn’t out of the ordinary. "We’ve observed dolphins pass fish around in normal play behavior," Diana Reiss, a dolphin cognition researcher at Hunter College, told NBC News.

As for whether they were fascinated by their reflection in the water, "I can tell you that when they’re not intoxicated, they are also fascinated by their reflection," said Reiss, who has studied how dolphins understand identity after conducting mirror experiments with aquarium animals.

Dolphins have blowholes on the top of their heads, through which they breathe, so it’s also possible that they were simply coming up for air, she said, adding that she'd have to see the footage first hand to make sure.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/dolphins-getting-high-fish-toxin-or-just-load-puff-2D11849410

And this one was a lot more critical but she used her own opinions too many times to make it all be completely false.

It sounds too awesome to be true—which means it probably is.

I’m not convinced. Dolphins are curious and intelligent, so I have no doubt that they would investigate a strange animal like a puffer. They might see what happens, explore the texture, taste, or smell of this novel creature in their midst, as they do in this video:


But do they intentionally harass them to get high? I doubt it. I guess it’s possible—but if they do, they’re playing a very deadly game, and one that I doubt is much fun for anyone involved.

When harassed, pufferfish first are true to their names and enlarge their bodies to make themselves less palatable. But if that’s not enough, they have the ability to secrete tetrodotoxin (TTX) to ward off potential predators.

The argument being made by The Sunday Times (and the filmmakers, it seems) is that dolphins are intentionally using TTX to get “high”. I just don’t buy it. A curious bunch accidentally indulging in a little puffer poison? Sure. But I’m to believe that dolphins are using tetrodotoxin regularly to get baked? Or even worse, include these toxic treats as a part of their “diet“? No way. Not even dolphins are crazy enough to take that risk.

Tetrodotoxin simply doesn’t make sense as a drug (and let’s be honest—if it did, humans would be snorting it off bathroom counters already). In very, very, very low doses, tetrodotoxin causes numbness, tingling, and the slight lightheadedness that fugu, the Japanese preparation of raw pufferfish flesh, is known for. I guess it’s possible to see how one might relate these mild effects to the “high” feeling that comes from THC, the main ingredient in marijuana*, but it’s a stretch to say the least. Every illicit drug has one thing in common: they alter minds. It’s right there in the definition of narcotic. Tetrodotoxin, however, doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier; it doesn’t change perception or enhance sensation. People get poisoned with TTX every year, and there’s a reason you don’t hear anyone describing the experience as a ‘high’: that’s nothow tetrodotoxin works.

Tetrodotoxin is a potent neurotoxin that shuts down sodium channels, silencing neural activity. In low doses, it numbs. In slightly higher ones, it paralyzes. In between it slows heart rate, plummets blood pressure, and causes respiratory distress. It’s a poison, not a party drug. There is nothing fun about it.

Perhaps even more importantly, though, tetrodotoxin doesn’t make sense as a narcotic because it is far more deadly than any of the substances used recreationally. For all the stink you hear about illicit drugs, they’re harmless in comparison. THC is a gentle compound that acts as a relaxant and appetite stimulant. For a person to die from orally ingesting marijuana, they would have to eat 1 lb or so of the most potent pot on the market in one sitting (which is probably why there has never been a case of fatal THC overdose). Tetrodotoxin, on the other hand, killed 179 people and poisoned another 467 in Japan alone from 1974 to 1983.

Milligram-for-milligram, tetrodotoxin is 120,000 times as deadly as cocaine, 40,000 times as deadly as meth, and more than 50million times as deadly as THC. It is tens to hundreds of times more lethal than the venoms of the most notorious animals in the world including the widow spiders and the black mamba. It’s more potent than VX nerve gas, formaldehyde, or even ricin. It is, quite literally, one of the most toxic compounds known to man. It is not a substance to be taken lightly.

Even if we give the dolphins their weight advantage, as mammals, it still would only take a few milligrams of TTX to kill one—a dose which, when provoked, puffers can secrete. Once poisoned, it can take up to an hour to begin feeling the effects, which start with numbness, tingling and lightheadedness. Quickly, things get much, much worse.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/s...uff-puff-pass-whole-new-meaning/#.Us_j1fRDsep

 

[Leasy]

I am surprised Dolphins didn't evolve yet and said enough of this water. They are mammals and have human tendencies more than Primates.

 

[tmonster]

To recap
Dolphins:
have huge penises
maintain rape caves
Get high on drugs

I have no idea how to put all that into a coherent thesis

 

[Type Username Here]

I am surprised Dolphins didn't evolve yet and said enough of this water. They are mammals and have human tendencies more than Primates.

They evolved the other way, from land to sea. Besides humans hunting them, they seem to have done pretty well.

 

[Type Username Here]

I read an article from a biologist recently who said there is no proof they're purposely trying to get high off it and BBC was being sensationalistic. I'll try to find it later.

Looked into it and found these.



And this one was a lot more critical but she used her own opinions too many times to make it all be completely false.

Thanks. I guess the burden falls on BBC and marine biologists to prove that what was presented was the case. I wouldn't put it past an intelligent species to use some form of mind altering substance though.

 

[Pool_Shark]

Thanks. I guess the burden falls on BBC and marine biologists to prove that what was presented was the case. I wouldn't put it past an intelligent species to use some form of mind altering substance though.

I had first heard about this on the Joe Rogan Podcast and they also played some video of a jaguar getting blown. I can't post the video but I think it's called Jaguar takes Yage or something like that.

BTW just found this cool list on the subject.


http://www.takepart.com/photos/lucy-sky-animals-5-animals-love-get-high/shroomin-reindeers

 

[Leasy]

They evolved the other way, from land to sea. Besides humans hunting them, they seem to have done pretty well.

Damn they must of seen the future but I wonder how they going to counter it now lol we messed up the ocean.

 

[Blackking]

someone explain them evolving from land to sea... that's more interesting than them accidentally getting poisoned.

 

[Crakface]

Dolphin intelligence is overrated. They're dumb.

 

[Type Username Here]

someone explain them evolving from land to sea... that's more interesting than them accidentally getting poisoned.

Dolphin/Whale skeleton evolution:

Probably started off something closely related to these:

Seal: