Man dies after cooking and eating highly poisonous pufferfish

 A Brazilian man who ate one of the world's most poisonous fish has died in hospital after fighting for his life for five weeks, according to reports.

According to Newsflash via the New York Post, 46-year-old Magno Sergio Gomes and his friend ate a poisonous pufferfish over Christmas after receiving the fish as a gift – which is known to be 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide.

Gomes, a father of three, and his friend gutted the fish, took out its liver and then boiled it and ate it with lemon juice in Aracruz, Espirito Santa in eastern Brazil.

However, less than an hour later, both Magno and his friend fell seriously ill, his heartbroken sister Myrianne Lopes told Newsflash, adding that her brother had never cleaned a pufferfish before.

According to Newsflash, Lopes said, "Magno started feeling his mouth go numb, then he drove with his wife to the hospital."

"When he got there, his mouth had become even more numb, and he was feeling sick. Shortly thereafter, he had a cardiac arrest that lasted eight minutes."

Lopes said Gomes was intubated and placed on life support but never recovered. He died on 27 January.

"Doctors told our family that he died from poison that rapidly reached his head," Lopes said.

"Three days after being admitted, he suffered a series of seizures, which greatly affected his brain, leaving little chance of his recovery."

Lopez said her brother's friend survived the ordeal but is having trouble with his legs. It is unclear whether that friend was the same friend who gifted the pufferfish to Gomes.

Mysterious sea creature draws 'alien' comparisons with its sharp teeth and spikey skin

According to the FDA, pufferfish are extremely dangerous to eat because they contain the deadly toxins tetrodotoxin (TTX) and/or saxitoxin, which can cause serious illness and death.

"These are central nervous system toxins and are even more lethal than cyanide," the FDA says on its website.

"Symptoms begin within 20 minutes to two hours of eating poisonous fish. Initial symptoms include tingling of the lips and mouth, followed by dizziness, tingling in the limbs, problems with speech, balance, muscle weakness and paralysis, "Includes vomiting and diarrhea. In severe intoxication, death may occur from respiratory paralysis."

The toxins are found in the liver, gonads, skin and intestines of the pufferfish.

The pufferfish is considered the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world, after the golden poison frog. Pufferfish are also known as puffer, bok, blowfish, globefish, swellfish, balloonfish or sea squab, according to the FDA.

Despite the dangers of eating pufferfish, they are considered a delicacy in Japan, where they are known as fugu. Expert Japanese fugu chefs learn to safely cut the parts of the fish that contain TTX.

This fish is also popular in China and Korea.

According to the FDA, due to the potential health hazard, commercial importation of pufferfish into the US is largely restricted, while personal importation is prohibited.

One pufferfish contains enough TTX to kill 30 humans.

According to Newsflash, Gomes' sister said she did not know where the fish her brother ate came from, or whether it was caught or farmed.

Brazil is reportedly home to 20 species of pufferfish. It is unclear what type of pufferfish Gomes ate.