Various biometric and geometric measures were used to discriminate between the morphologically similar river puffer, Takifugu obscurus, tiger puffer, T. rubripes, their hybrids, and their triploid hybrids. The hybrids and triploid hybrids had greater anal fin width, nostril width, and snout length than the parental species (p<0.05). However, they had less caudal peduncle depth, inter-orbital width, head length, and head width (p<0.05). The morphometric and meristic characteristics of the hybrids and triploid hybrids were either intermediate between the parental species or more similar to those of one parental species. However, the external morphology of the hybrids and triploid hybrids was predominantly maternal. The triploid hybrids had asymmetry in the fin rays and gill raker numbers. This study identified phenotypic characteristics by distinguishing the morphological variables of river puffer, tiger puffer, their hybrids, and their triploid hybrids.

The diet composition of Takifugu niphobles was studied with 587 specimens collected in the eelgrass bed of Jangpyeong-ri, Tongyeong, Korea, using a seine net, monthly from May 2016 to April 2017. The standard length (SL) of the specimens ranged from 0.7 to 9.0 cm. The stomach contents analysis indicated that T. niphobles consumed mainly amphipods (%IRI: 91.0 %). In addition, T. niphobles fed on small quantities of copepods, polychaetes, insects, bivalves and crabs. T. niphobles consumed mainly amphipods over all size class. Smaller individuals (less than 4 cm SL) fed mainly on amphipods and copepods. The proportion of copepods decreased, as body size increased, whereas the consumption of polychaetes increased gradually. The seasonal variation in the diet composition of T. niphobles was significant. Amphipods were most common prey in all seasons. Copepods decreased from summer to spring gradually whereas the consumption of polychaetes increased in autumn.

This research aimed to improve the healthy properties of puffer fish broth, which has been utilized in Korean and Japanese food. Various healthy foods such as garlic, onion, mushroom, and cauliflower were added as ingredients to pufffer fish stock, and the antioxidative activity of each stock was measured by assaying the DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities, reducing power and amount of polyphenol. Shiitake was the most effective in increasing the antioxidative activity of puffer fish stock. The high antioxidative activity of shiitake mushroom seems to be correlated with the amount of polyphenol content in puffer fish broth. The antioxidant activities of puffer fish stock increased proportionally with increasing amount of added shiitake, which in turn was due to the increased amount of total polyphenol in the stock.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of gelatin concentration and storage on color and texture of puffer fish stock jelly. Puffer fish stock jelly was prepared by adding various amounts (2.5~10 percent) of gelatin to puffer fish stock. Color changes of puffer fish sstock jelly were also investigated during storage at 4℃ and 25℃ with varying amount of gelatin (2.5~10.0 percent). Regardless of storage temperature, the L values of puffer fish stock jelly were slightly increased, while a values of the stock jelly were negatively decreased during storage. However, L and negative b values were decreased with increasing gelatin concentration, whereas a values were increased negatively with increasing gelatin concentration. The texture profiles of puffer fish stock jelly such as hardness, springiness, cohesiveness adhesiveness, chewiness and brittleness were determined during storage at 25℃ and 4℃ at various intervals. The hardness, chewiness and brittleness were increased during storage at 25℃ for four days, while those of springiness and cohesiveness were decreased during storage. However, the values of all textural parameters were increased with increasing gelatin concentration in puffer fish stock jelly. Patterns of textural parameters of puffer fish stock jelly stored at 4℃ were practically identical to those stored at 25℃.

복섬, Takifugu niphobles 부화 자어를 대상으로 기아에 따른 성장, 생존 및 간세포 핵 크기에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 자어의 전장은 부화 후 3일 까지 증가하였으나 부화 후 3일에서 부 화 후 6일까지 절식구는 공급구에 비해 유의한 낮은 성장을 보였다. 공급구 복섬의 체중은 실 험 기간 중 지속적인 증가를 보였다. 절식구의 체중은 부화 후 3일 까지 증가하였으나, 부화 후 3일 이후는 서서히 감소하였다. 절식구의 생존율은 공급구의 생존율에 비해 유의하게 낮았 으며(p < 0.05) 부화 후 6일째 절식구 자어는 폐사하였다. 절식구의 간세포 핵 크기는 부화 후 3일 까지는 공급구의 간세포 핵 크기와 유의한 차이가 없었으나, 부화 후 4일에서 부화 후 6일 까지는 절식구은 공급구에 비해 간세포 핵 크기 감소를 보이며 조직상 차이를 보였다. 본 연구 결과 도출된 자료들은 복섬의 영양상태 지표로 사용될 수 있을 것으로 사료된다.

The current standard for testing tetrodotoxin (TTX) in foodstuffs is the mouse bioassay (MBA) in Korea as in many other countries. However, this test suffers from potential ethical concerns over the use of live animals. In addition, the mouse bioassay does not test for a specific toxin thus a sample resulting in mouse incapacitation would need further confirmatory testing to determine the exact source toxin (e.g., TTX, STX, brevotoxin, etc.). Furthermore, though the time of death is proportional to toxicity in this assay, the dynamic range for this proportional relationship is small thus many samples must be diluted and new mice be injected to yield a result that falls within the quantitative dynamic range. Therefore, in recent years, there have been many efforts in this field to develop alternative assays. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) has been emerged as one of the most promising options. A LC-MS-MS method involves solid-phase extraction (SPE) and followed by analysis using an electrospray in the positive ionization mode and multiple reactions monitoring (MRM). To adopt LC-MS-MS method as alternative standard for testing TTX, we performed a validation study for the quantification of TTX in puffer fish. This LC-MS-MS method showed good sensitivity as limits of detection (LOD) of 0.03~0.08 μg/g and limits of quantification (LOQ) of 0.10~0.25 μg/g. The linearity (r2) of tetrodotoxin were 0.9986~0.9997, the recovery were 80.9~103.0% and the relative standard deviations (RSD) were 4.3~13.0%. The correlation coefficient between the mouse bioassay and LC/MS/MS method was higher than 0.95.

연안산 저활용 소형복어인 복섬(Takifugu niphobles)을 원료로 하여 수프용 정미강화소재로 이용할 수 있는 풍미계 조미엑스분을 추출하였고, 추출방법에 따른 이들 복섬 엑스분의 품질 및 정미발현성분에 대하여 살펴보았다. 복섬의 조단백질 함량은 17.4%으로 Glu, Asp, Lys, Leu, Pro, Ala, Val 및 Lys 등 주요 아미노산을 고루 함유하고 있었다. 열수추출법 및 2단 효소분해법으로 엑스분을 추출하고 관능적 특성을 비교한 결과, 98℃에서 3시간 추출한 열수추출물에서는 감칠맛과 맛의 강도가 약한 반면, 2단 효소분해물은 감칠맛과 맛의 조화가 월등히 우수하였고, 수율은 열수추출에 비해 약 1.7배 증가하였다. 열수추출 및 2단 효소분해물의 유리아미노산 총량은 각각 433.1 및 4,502.2 mg/100 g으로 함량 차이가 컸으며, Pro, Leu, Lys, Hypro, Tau, Arg, Phe, Ala, Glu 및 Val 등이 복섬 2단 효소분해물의 주요 유리아미노산이었다. 반면, IMP 함량은 각각 336.2 및 372.2 mg/100 g으로 다량 함유되어 있었으나 양자 간에 큰 차이가 없었고, 그외 total creatinine 등 기타 염기성분도 추출방법에 따른 함량 차이는 거의 없었다. 주요 정미발현성분 중의 하나인 무기이온은 Na, K, Cl 및 PO4 등이 주성분으로, 열수추출물에 비해 2단 효소분해물의 함량이 훨씬 많았다.

우리나라에서 1991년 2002년 사이의 복어독 중독 발생상황에 대하여 신문에 보도된 내용을 검색하여 정리하고 특성을 분석하였다. 조사기간 중 우리나라에서는 총 32건의 복어독 중독사고가 발생하여, 111명이 중독되었고 그 중 30명이 사망하여 27.0%의 치사율을 나타내었으며, 연도에 따라 중독건수, 환자수 및 사망자수의 변동이 심하였다. 사망자는 29세 이상의 남성이 대부분을 차지하였다. 식중독 발생건별 환자수를 보면 4인 이하의 소규모 중독사건이 전체 발생건수의 75.0%인 24건을 차지하였고, 식중독 통계 집계기준인 5인 이상의 집단 식중독은 8건에 지나지 않았다. 우리나라에서 복어독 중독 발생건수의 59.4%(19/32)가 11월부터 익년 1월사이에 발생하였고, 이시기의 환자수 및 사망자수 또한 각각 65.8%(73/111), 66.7%(20/30)로 나타나 복어중독은 겨울철에 집중되었다. 지역적으로는 발생 건수의 75.0%(24/32)가 부산, 경남, 전남, 제주 등 남해안 지역에서 집중적으로 발생하였다. 섭취장소별로는 총 32건 중 18건(56.3%)이 선박에서 발생하였고, 가정에서 8건(25.0%)의 발생하였으며, 음식점에서 발생한 것은 5건(15.6%)이었다. 복어독 중독의 가장 중요한 원인 음식물은 국(탕 포함)으로 발생건수의 68.8%(22/32), 환자수의 64.0%(71/111), 사망자의 66.7%(20/30)를 차지하였고, 그 외 찜, 회, 내장탕, 알 등도 원인이 된 경우가 있었다.

Totally, twenty seven specimens of tiger puffer, Fugu rubripes rubripes were collected at Jagalchi fish market in Pusan, Korea during January, April and September in 1995. Anatomical distribution of pufferfish toxin in tiger puffer was examined by mouse bioassay. The frequency rate of toxic specimens containing ≥ 10 MU/g was 14.8% in liver; 16.7% in gonad; and 14.8% in skin, and no toxin was detected in muscle. The highest toxin level found was 160 MU/g in liver, 600 MU/g in gonad and 26 MU/g in skin, and each average toxin level (mean ± standard error) was 7 ± 6, 50 ± 35 and 5 ± 1 MU/g, respectively. Some specimens collected in January and April were toxic, while none of the specimens collected in September showed its toxicity. Although toxicity of tiger puffer showed the seasonal variation, tested tiger puffer was evaluated as a safe seafood for consumption, in that an acceptable level of toxin was found in the edible muscle and skin.

The author carried out an experiment to find out the response of Striped puffer. Fugu xanthoperus (Temminck et Schlegel) to the color lights. The experimental tank (300L×50W×50Hcm) was set up in a dark room. Six longitudinal sections with 60cm intervals are marked in the tank to observe the location of the fish. Water depth in the tank was kept 50cm level. Light bulbs of 20W at the both ends of the tank projected the light horizontally into the tank. Two different colored filters were selected from four colors of red, blue, yellow, and white, and the were placed in front of the light bulbs to make different colors of light. Light intensity was controlled by use of auxiliary filiters intercepted between the bulb and the filter. The fishes were acclimatized in the dark for 60 minutes before they were employed in the experiment. Upon turning on the light, the number of fish in each section was counted 40 times in 30 second intervals, and the mean of the number of fish in each section was counted 40 times in 30 second intervals, and the mean of the number of fish in each section was given as the gathering rate of the fish. The colors favourited by the fish was found in order of blue, yellow, white and red in the daytime, and blue, white, yellow and red at night. The difference of the average distribution on two different colors of light was 13.12%(4.10-26.55%), and the difference in the daytime(14.79%) was larger than at night (11.45%). Constantly the gathering rate of fish on illumination period was fluctuated with instability. As the gathering rate of fish on illumination period was fluctuated with instability. As the gathering rate on one color of light increased, the gathering rate on the other color of light decreased. The difference of the gathering rate on two different colors of light was comparatively distinct and the difference in the daytime was larger than at night.

광에 대한 어류의 행동을 조사하기 위하여 까치복 Fugu xanthopterus에 광의 세기가 서로 다른 8가지 백색인공광원으로 광자극을 주어, 그에 대한 반응을 주간과 야간으로 구분 조사한 결과는 다음과 같다. 1. 광자극에 대한 수조내의 구간별분포는 광원쪽구간에 많이 모여 분포곡선은 대체로 L자형이 되었으나, 광의 세기에 따라 그 형태가 다소 차이가 있었으며 주야간의 차이는 뚜렷하지 않았다. 2. 수중조도가 높아짐에 따라 광원쪽에서 더 많이 모이는 경향을 나타냈으며 주간보다 야간에 다소 많이 모였다. 3. 집어율이 최대가 되는 수중조도(적정조도)는 298.56 lux(188.44~444.96 lux)로써 주야간에 같았으며, 최대집어율은 주간에 47.30%, 야간에 50.43%로써 야간에 더 높았다. 4. 조명시간이 경과함에 따라 집어율은 증가하거나 증가한 후 감소하는 경향을 보였으나, 계속 불안정하게 변동했으며 주야간의 차이는 뚜렷하지 않았다.