World News for Students of English

28-11-2014 15:00

Fishermen in the Crimean city of Sevastopol have turned up some surprising catches recently.

Fugu fish, a deadly oceanic puffer fish usually only found in the tropics, have made their way into the city’s waters.

The fish fill their bodies with water or air if threatened, and their organs are filled with a poison more deadly than cyanide and so potent that just a tiny amount will kill you.

So why they’re considered a delicacy in Japan is beyond me.

Local fishermen hold the fugu in and raise the alarm to the authorities. Now, researchers at the Institute of Biology in the southern seas in Crimea have been tasked with working out how the puffer fish ended up there.

Their current hypothesis is that the fish may have reached the northern hemisphere via the Suez Canal and infested the Mediterranean Sea for up to 10 years.

Local authorities believe that the fish pose a threat to Black Sea fauna and the local population.

Probably because they’re super poisonous.

Funnily enough, chefs in the region aren’t exactly rushing to put the fish on the menu. I wonder why!

Difficult words: puffer fish (a kind of fish which can blow itself up like a balloon to scare away the animal trying to eat it), tropic (jungle area), cyanide (a type of poison), potent (strong), tiny (very small), be beyond someone (not be able to understand), hypothesis (explanation), infest (invade, be present in large numbers), fauna (the animals of a particular region), rush (hurry).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com