
This will hopefully serve as a warning to all of you adventurous eaters out there. Two men were apparently plagued
with intense hallucinations and later hospitalized after consuming Salema porgy or Sarpa salpa (right), a highly
poisonous reef fish, according to an article in
Practical Fishkeeping. The article says
the fish was served in restaurants in the western Mediterranean, but does not say exactly where. This 'fish poisoning'
or ichthyoallyeinotoxism is generally associated with fish from the Indo Pacific, including certain types of
"mullet, goatfish, tangs, damsels and rabbitfish." The hallucinations, which are supposedly on par with
psychedelics like LSD or DMT, have earned these toxic fish the nickname "dream fish."