Eating some bad fish might not seem like the most spectacular way to ruin a tropical vacation, but for a 45-year-old man from England, a bit of tainted seafood was the beginning of a wild ride.
Cold water felt burning hot. Hot things felt icy cold. His tongue felt strange. Drinking alcohol or coffee only increased his suffering.
The patient had ciguatera poisoning — an ailment caused by ciguatoxin, a neurotoxin that is produced by microorganisms and found in a wide variety of tropical fish.
To raise awareness of the bizarre condition, Peter Bain, a researcher at Imperial College in London, described the amusing case in the October issue of Practical Neurology.
He was not the first doctor to witness the strange illness.
In 1774, Captain James Cook, famed explorer of the South Pacific, watched as some of his men experienced the unusual affliction. His surgeon recorded the diverse symptoms, including: a burning sensation in the face, pain in the limbs, and an imaginary feeling of loose teeth.
The extreme sportsmen shunned the traditional idea of a peaceful day’s fishing when they rowed into the freezing shark-infested waters off Alaska. The daring team of four were surrounded by 200 to 300 salmon sharks which were up to nine feet long and weighed between 400 and 1,000 lbs.
A champion angler is to be turned into fish food when he dies.
Terminally-ill Pete Hodge, 61, has arranged for his remains to be made into bait so his riverbank mates can enjoy a bumper catch.
Pete, who has motor neurone disease, is a national champ and winner of hundreds of competitions.
His ashes will be “balled in” as groundbait mix by pals at the Huntspill River near Bridgewater, Somerset.
He said: “It may sound strange but this is my dream. To be back in the river catching fish is where I belong. I hope my friends make me proud with their catches.”
Pete has already had a coffin made — fashioned as a giant wicker fishing basket.
Danny Ficocello pulled the shark in along Flagler Beach. He told Eyewitness News that just outside the waves there’s a deep spot, with big fish. In fact, it is the same spot where a shark last week bit right through a woman’s surfboard.
The shark measured more than 12 feet long, about 550 pounds, and it’s by far the biggest thing Ficocello has ever seen some out of the water.
After putting out his bait at Flagler Beach Saturday night, he fished for two hours with no bites, but then it hit and he knew it was big.
SEATTLE - There may never be a campaign to save the Puget Sound ratfish; no one really loves the ugly fish with rodent-like front teeth. But when a rare albino ratfish was found during a marine survey this past summer, scientists decided it was time to educate the public about the most abundant fish in local waters.
For the past six years, Shark Defense has been developing and patenting various shark repellents. Some are secret-agent cool, dispensed from hand-held rocket launchers. Others send sharks packing thanks to powerful magnets composed of rare-earth metals. Still others are injected into squid-shaped baits that could someday be deployed on fishers’ long lines, to warn sharks away.
It’s the cutting edge of a rather troubled quest to engineer the perfect shark repellent. The effort began in earnest in World War II, when FDR demanded that the military protect Navy boys from being gobbled up at sea. Knowing only that sharks seemed to steadfastly avoid their dead brethren, government teams were gathered, sharks were dropped in vats of water, Julia Child helped stir them, and compounds were produced that seemed, in controlled environments, to work like a charm. In the open seas, unfortunately, it worked more like chum, turning sailors into deliciously seasoned, artificially colored snacks.
“This is an Atlantic manta ray, it’s a huge animal,” said Tony LaCasse, the New England Aquarium spokesman who came to Salem yesterday evening to check on the report.
The manta ray measured 11 feet from wing tip to wing tip, and 7 feet, 8 inches in length from a central spot on its head to the base of its tail. The “guesstimate” on its weight was 600 pounds, LaCasse said. Manta rays have been known to have 22-foot wingspans.
“It primarily eats plankton and shrimp,” LaCasse said, “and it also does eat occasional small fish. But this is an animal that is completely harmless to people.” The only danger it poses to people is when it gets caught in fishing nets.
“This is sort of the northern extent where you can see an Atlantic manta ray, they are occasionally spotted in New England waters and it is way off shore.” They are normally found in the tropics, as far south as Brazil.
For the past six years, Shark Defense has been developing and patenting various shark repellents. Some are secret-agent cool, dispensed from hand-held rocket launchers. Others send sharks packing thanks to powerful magnets composed of rare-earth metals. Still others are injected into squid-shaped baits that could someday be deployed on fishers’ long lines, to warn sharks away.
“This is an Atlantic manta ray, it’s a huge animal,” said Tony LaCasse, the New England Aquarium spokesman who came to Salem yesterday evening to check on the report.
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