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Japanese chemists are also hard at work on a more practical chore: finding an antidote for tetrodotoxin poisoning. But success may not be applauded by risk-loving gourmets. When a bottle of antitoxin is standing in every restaurant, the dangerous fugu will have become just another fish; fugu roulette will have lost its excitement, and something unique will have vanished from Japanese culture.
*American puffer fish, which are also poisonous, are sold as "sea squab" or under some other euphemistic name. Only the back flesh is cut free; the dangerous remainder of the fish is discarded at sea.