MANILA: A 51-year-old Filipina content creator died after reportedly consuming a highly toxic “devil crab” during a social media livestream in Palawan.
Philippine media reports identified the woman as Emma Amit, who had been harvesting shellfish with friends in a mangrove area near Puerto Princesa when she encountered the brightly patterned crab scientifically known as
Zosimus aeneus.
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The species is regarded as one of the most poisonous crabs in the Philippines and contains potent neurotoxins, including tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin, which are also found in pufferfish.
These toxins can cause paralysis, respiratory failure and death, and reports said Amit began experiencing numbness and difficulty breathing shortly after consuming the crab.
She was rushed to a medical facility but was declared dead on arrival, prompting renewed warnings from marine experts and local authorities about the dangers of consuming unfamiliar sea creatures, especially toxic reef and mangrove species known to contain lethal compounds.
