![]() Prior to that, a 40-year-old man also fell victim to ichthyosarcotoxism while holidaying in the French Riviera and had hallucinations of screaming animals and giant, menacing spiders surrounding his car. The manifestations abated three days after he had eaten the fish," de Haro and Pommier report. "Fearing that these symptoms might signal the beginning of a major mental illness, he did not tell his friends or attending physician. He literally thought he was losing his mind. This poisoning from contaminated fish flesh prompts intense hallucinations and terrifying nightmares that can last for several days.Īs reported by Luc de Haro and Philip Pommier from the Centre Antipoison of the Hôpital Salvator in Marseille, France, in a 2006 issue of Clinical Toxicology, a 90-year-old man ate a Salema porgy in Saint Tropez in 2002 and two hours later was hallucinating and having nightmares about people and birds screaming, which lasted a further two nights. Along with a handful of other fish, the flesh of the Salema porgy can sometimes inflict ichthyosarcotoxism on those who eat it, which is a very rare form of poisoning caused by the toxins of a tiny species of marine plankton called Gambierdiscus toxicus. Apparently they taste great! The Salema porgy, also of the Sparidae family and nicknamed the dreamfish, was reportedly used for recreational hallucinogenic purposes in the Mediterranean during the Roman Empire and has played a role in traditional Polynesian ceremonies. So that’s something.Īnother good thing about this huge creep is that, unlike one of its relatives, the Salema porgy ( Sarpa salpa), you won't risk having a terrible trip when you eat one. While other members of the Sparidae family are trying out various forms of hermaphroditism, including changing from female to male (protogyny), doing the opposite (protandry), or being unisexual (gonochorists), the sheepshead is just sitting at home watching cartoons and leaving its genitals where they are. "Since they are good to eat, sheepshead are targeted by anglers, so the handling of one after capture creates the possibility of being bitten or poked by their sharp dorsal fin spines.Despite the way it looks, the sheepshead fish ( Archosargus probatocephalus) has at least one thing going for it. "They pose no threat to humans unless harassed," Catania added. "I would not hesitate to swim in waters inhabited by these fish," David Catania, the collections manager for ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, told in 2021 after a TikTok video describing a sheepshead as a "demon fish" went viral. Even when sheepshead fish have a full set of gnashers they are typically not dangerous to humans, but it's not a good idea to provoke them. and in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the IUCN. Sheepshead fish are safe for human consumption and are commercially and recreationally fished along the southeastern coast of the U.S. Sheepshead fish usually reach maturity at 2 years old and can live for at least 20 years. Once fertilized, the eggs hatch after just 28 hours. Scientists don't know much about sheepshead fish spawning behavior, but females may produce between 1,100 eggs and 250,000 eggs, according to FMNH. To reproduce, a female fish releases her eggs, which a male then fertilizes with sperm. Related: Under the sea: 50 breathtaking images from our oceans How do sheepshead fish breed? Sheepshead fish swim from the surface down to a depth of 49 feet (15 meters), according to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. In late winter and early spring, sheepshead fish head offshore to spawn, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History (FMNH). While sheepshead fish usually live in salt water and slightly salty brackish water, they are sometimes found in freshwater habitats in winter, when they seek out warmer waters where springs and rivers empty into the ocean. Genus and species: Archosargus probatocephalus ![]()
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