BANGKOK, Thailand - Unscrupulous vendors in Thailand have been selling meat of the deadly puffer fish disguised as salmon, causing the deaths of more than 15 people over the past three years, a doctor said Thursday.

Unscrupulous vendors in Thailand have been selling meat of the deadly puffer fish disguised as salmon, causing the deaths of more than 15 people over the past three years, a doctor said Thursday.

Made in China means cheap, but it may cost you much more...bean curd cubes unfit for human consumption, puffer fished laced with deadly toxin Tetrodotoxin...oh, remember the tainted pet food. In April alone, 257 import shipments from China were denied entry into the U.S. (list by FDA).

Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish. The family includes many familiar species which are variously called puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, and toadies. They are morphologically similar to the closely related porcupinefish, which have large conspicuous spines (unlike the small, almost sandpaper-like spines of Tetraodontidae). The scientific name, Tetraodontidae, refers to the four large teeth, fused into an upper and lower plate, which are used for crushing the shells of crustaceans and mollusks, their natural prey.The skin and certain internal organs of many Tetraodontidae are highly toxic to humans, but nevertheless the meat of some species is considered a delicacy in both Japan (as fugu) and Korea (as bogeo).The Tetraodontidae contains at least 121 species of puffers in 19 genera. They are most diverse in the tropics and relatively uncommon in the temperate zone and completely absent from cold waters. Puffers are mostly found in coastal regions though some are oceanic (e.g., Lagocephalus lagocephalus) or live in the deep sea (e.g., Sphoeroides pachygaster). A large number of puffers are found in brackish and fresh waters: at least 39 marine species enter brackish or freshwater to feed or breed (e.g., Arothron hispidus), and a further 28 species are completely freshwater fish in distribution and never enter the sea (e.g., Colomesus asellus).