This was a runner up. Notice how the fish couldn't be pulled out of his throat because the fish scales + fins prevented it.
Fish Swallower Chokes To Death
VIBURNUM, Mo. (AP) -- A man who apparently had spent the day drinking with friends choked to death trying to swallow a live, 5-inch fish.
Todd Poller's friends reported hearing the 45-year-old yell: "Hey, watch this," before he grabbed a perch from the water and dropped it headfirst into his mouth. Iron County Sheriff Alan Mathes said Poller choked and gasped as his friends tried to dislodge the fish. He was pronounced dead when emergency crews arrived.
An autopsy found Poller died from asphyxiation from having the fish lodged in his throat. Aside from choking, Poller suffered lacerations to the inside of his throat from the fish's fins.(Associated Press Thursday, May 17, 2001)
One of the first things you learn when trying to unhook perch is that they have razor-sharp gill plates, and, in self-defense, they pop them open when you grab them.