The Different Between Stonefish and Japanese Fugu

Stonefish (left) and Japanese fugu (right)

At my previous article (Stonefish: Venomous Spikes, but Delicious Meat), some friends confused between two venomous fishes, stonefish and Japanese fugu. Sure, they have different scientific names, organs source of poisonous and the way of handling their poisonous.

Scientific genus for stonefish is Synanceia, while famous genus of Japanese fugu is Takifugu. The most poisonous and prestigious fugu called torafugu translated to tiger blowfish in English.

Spikes, 13 spikes are venomous parts of stonefish; thus, sting is the way of poison to penetrate human body. Japanese fugu has a liver as the most poisonous organ, and there are some other venomous parts as well, include skin, ovaries and eyes.  

Certificate to sell and buy of Japanese fugu, credit to Natrainner

Toxic for Stonefish is Verrucotoxin, whereas Tetrodotoxin is poison for Japanese fugu. Tetrodotoxin is more dangerous than cyanide, measured by 1200 times deadly compared to cyanide. Exposure to Tetrodotoxin by “a pinhead” could kill an adult in hours.

Handling of both stonefish and Japanese fugu needs the special chef. Since the most dangerous, it is tough to get license to sell and buy Japanese fugu. Like going to college, training is rigorous and could be 4 years. Long hours of training, but not everybody will pass and get certificate.

In term of price, stonefish price is US$30 per-kg (US$15 per-pound) in the American grocery. I don’t know any restaurants offer stonefish dishes. As far as I remember, Japanese fugu dish is 5 thousand yen (US$45). 

However, through Google searching, the price of Japanese fugu dishes could range as cheap as US$9 to as expensive as US$200.

I love many Japanese foods such as Sushi, Onigiri, Okonomiyaki, Kare raisu, Ramen, Yakitori and Udon. But not fan of poisonous Puffer fish or Stonefish, and not raw fish. 

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