Tetrodotoxin is an amino-perhydroquinazoline-type compound, one of the most toxic neurotoxins found in nature, and was once considered to be the most toxic non-protein toxin in nature.

Tetrodotoxin is chemically and thermally stable, and cannot be destroyed by general cooking methods such as salt pickling or solarization, and can only be decomposed by heating at high temperature for more than 30min or under alkaline conditions. 220℃ for 20-60min can make the toxin completely destroyed.

Tetrodotoxin has been found in the beginning of people are constantly looking for better detection methods. Commonly used methods for the detection of tetrodotoxin include mouse assay, enzyme immunoassay, thin-layer chromatography, post-column derivatization high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography and liquid-liquid chromatography, etc. The gas chromatography is more commonly used in foreign countries. Gas chromatography and liquid-liquid chromatography are more commonly used in foreign countries for the detection of river herring toxin.

The puffer fish is rich in nutrients and delicious in flavor, and is known as the first fresh fish in Yangtze River. The consumption of pufferfish has a long history in China, Japan and other Asian countries, and has gradually formed a unique pufferfish food culture. Japan also regarded puffer fish feast as national feast and entertained honored guests.

Pufferfish habits and distribution:

A few species of reproductive season anadromous into the river to spawn, such as the dark oriental can be along the Yangtze River upstream to the Dongting Lake spawning, but also in the Yangtze River and through the river lakes to settle in China's important fish resources, mainly living in the water in the middle or bottom layer. It is a benthic fish with migratory habit of river and sea. Puffer fish has a mixed diet, mainly feeding on shellfish, crustaceans and young fish.

The puffer fish is widely distributed around the world, more varieties, about 200 species, of which there are more than 40 species in China, most of which belong to the genus Oriental Pufferfish, in China's temperate, tropical, subtropical sea areas have puffer fish distribution, mainly distributed in the Yellow Sea, Bohai Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea and offshore rivers and streams.