92 Papers from the Department of Marine Biology. 



"The largest of these species (Sphyrcena barracuda or picuda) is a valuable 

 food-fish, but it has long been known that individual specimens may be poison- 

 ous, causing severe illness and even death. There is evidently something more 

 in this than ptomaine poisoning due to eating fish that is not fresh and the 

 probability is that the poisonous quality of the flesh is not directly caused 

 by the barracuda feeding in certain places or on smaller poisonous fish. 

 It seems more likely that barracuda are poisonous when suffering from an 

 infectious disease. Plee has stated that when barracuda are poisonous this 

 can be recognized by a thin white fluid running out of the flesh when it is cut, 

 whilst Poey says that the poisonous barracuda have the teeth blackish at the 

 roots. However, no real investigation of the matter on scientific lines has 

 been made, and it is quite likely that were such investigation made, the cause 

 might prove to be quite different from what has been supposed." 



None of the encyclopedias, not even the eleventh edition of the 

 Britannica, contains the word "ciguatera." Parra (1787) has a short 

 chapter bearing the heading "Ciguatera." This has been carefully 

 translated for me, but nowhere does it contain any reference to the 

 barracuda. Parra gives at some length and in very clear and minute 

 detail an instance of ciguatera poisoning of himself and his family. This 

 agrees in general with the accounts given above. He refers to the 

 manchineel theory, but thinks it of no value since in certain parts of 

 the West Indies where these trees abound the disease is wholly absent. 

 He confesses himself entirely in the dark as to the cause and also the 

 best treatment, lemon juice being the thing which affords some and 

 possibly the most relief. 



We have here some exceedingly interesting accounts of barracuda 

 poisoning and some equally interesting if divergent theories in expla- 

 nation. The present writer having had no personal experience or 

 observation of it can not express any personal opinion. The flesh of the 

 larger fish is coarse and oily and has neither appetizing appearance nor 

 odor. Such flesh might well be provocative of gastric disturbances if 

 eaten. With us at Tortugas such was used only for shark bait. 

 Again it is quite possible that certain species might be poisonous on 

 account of their feeding habits, and an even more plausible supposition 

 is that these fish may be poisonous at certain seasons only of the year. 

 As for the first it is well known that certain species in a group are 

 poisonous while others are not. This finds explanation in the fact 

 that certain poisonous alkaloids are found concentrated in some organ. 

 These are most apt to be found in the ovary, and are most abundant 

 and dangerous at the breeding season. 



In the second place, it might well be that the barracuda, being a 

 piscivore, might feed at certain seasons of the year on fishes which at 

 that time were poisonous, and thus itself become poisonous. This 

 might also lead to its being poisonous in certain localities only. 



However, whatever other causes may give rise to barracuda poison- 

 ing, there can be no doubt that decomposition products, ptomaines, 



