The Warming Oceans Will Increase Fish Poisoning in the U.S.

Feast on a fish that’s consumed a special kind of microorganism and you might start experiencing peculiar symptoms: nausea, vomiting, tingling in the extremities, and for the real lucky ones, a disorienting sensation that makes “cold things feel hot and hot things feel cold” (per the CDC).

These are the trademarks of Ciguatera poisoning, caused by dining on a fish that itself has dined on neurotoxin-producing Gambierdiscus toxicus algae, which abound in the balmy waters of the Caribbean. Though symptoms usually go away in a few days, in some cases they persist for years, and there is no known cure. Fish that have been implicated in cases of Ciguatera include many restaurant favorites, including varieties of grouper, amberjack, and snapper.