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Hallucinogenic Fish

Sir Ask Alot
in Psychiatry and Psychology

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I am not sure of your question?

 

The item suggested that a couple of men ate fish that had been infected, or eaten, some plankton that contained a hallucinogenic toxin.

 

Lots of living things in this world produce poisons to kill, or more often, provide a nasty taste, to ward off those that might eat them. I presume that the algae involved did this as defense. Those poisons, when eaten by a species that is not targeted, such as humans, may have effects that are widely different to that which evolution originally 'designed'.

 

Another example is nicotine, made by the tobacco plant as a nerve poison to kill those caterpillars that feed on it. In humans it is still a nerve poison, but slows the neurotransmitter rate, thereby providing an addictive and temporary 'high'.

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