A man in his 60s in Hualien County’s Fengbin Township (豐濱) died after eating a poisonous toad, and five others fell ill with food poisoning, local health officials said on Tuesday.
The group ate toads as part of a meal, believing they were frogs that were safe to eat, officials said, adding that soon after, they became nauseous, vomited and experienced numbness in their limbs for between one and four hours.
They were rushed to a hospital and one of them died, while the others recovered and were discharged, Hualien County Health Bureau Director Chu Chia-hsiang (朱家祥) said.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
Samples collected by health officials showed that the animals were Central Formosa toads (Bufo bankorensis), a species known to secrete bufotenine, an active chemical in toad venom, Chu said.
Bufotenine is found in the eggs, skin and glands of several species of toads and causes an irregular heartbeat if ingested, Chu added.
The bureau said that it believes that this chemical caused the death, adding that the toads were cooked without removing the area where the toxin is concentrated and without skinning them.
Central Formosa toads are generally recognized as an endemic species and can be found nationwide at elevations of up to 3km, the Digital Taiwan Culture and Nature portal says.
They are 6cm to 11cm in length and their dorsal color can range from shades of brown to grayish black, it adds.
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