Which fish do dolphins use to get high?

John Downer, an award-winning documentary filmmaker while shooting a series on dolphins for BBC One (from the year 2013) discovered that dolphins were actually playing and consuming a special kind of pufferfish in a rather strange way to cause it to release a toxin that would get them ‘high’.

Puffer fishes are known to contain tetrodotoxin which in small amounts can kill a human within minutes. However, for the dolphins, this toxin, according to experts, is known to create a narcotic effect when consumed in smaller amounts. It seems like dolphins have figured out how they can control the amount of toxin that’s released.

The documentary showed the fish carefully chewing on the pufferfish and actually passing it among one another like a game of underwater volleyball, after which they appeared to be in a trance-like state.