in 1996,three men in california were taken to a hospital with strange symptom. they felt dizzy, tired, and weak. they couldn't speak, and they had trouble breathing. the hospital doctors thought the men had been poisoned, but couldn't work out what was wrong with them. then they found out the three men were all chefs, and they had just shared a dish of fugu.
fugu, the japanese name for the puffer fish, is one of the strange fish in the ocean. the puffer fish gets its name from the way the fish protects itself from enemies. whenever it is attacked, the fish puffs up (blows up) its body to over twice its normal size.