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tetrodotoxin (TTX)

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is an especially potent marine neurotoxin, named after the order of fish from which it is most commonly associated, the Tetraodontiformes (includes the puffers, porqupine fish, blowfish, cowfish, boxfish).The toxin appears in high concentrations in the gonads, liver, intestines and skin of pufferfish. The fatality rate when injested may be as high as 60 percent. Tetradotoxin is more than 10,000 times deadlier than cyanide. Other marine and terrestrial organisms have been found to store TTX, for example, the Australian blue-ringed octopus, parrotfish, triggerfish, gobies, angelfish, ocean sunfish, globefish, seastars, starfish, xanthid and other crabs, a horseshoe crab, a number of marine snails, flatworms, tunicates, ribbonworms, mollusks and marine algae (Jania spp.) Terrestrial organisms include the Harlequin frogs (Atelopus spp.), three species of California newt and other eastern salamanders.

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