FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 78, NO. 2 



scription of the dark spots of T. melanospilos was 

 not simply round as Schultz stated, but round and 

 oblong and variably small, medium, and large. 



One stingray of this species from Enewetak with 

 a disc length of 870 mm (disc width 950 mm; tail 

 length 950 mm), weighing 19.05 kg, was tested. It 

 was not poisonous. 



The stomach of this ray was empty. Another of 

 1,255 mm disc length weighing 68.9 kg collected 

 by the author at Enewetak in 1968 had eaten two 

 labrid fishes (Xyrichtys) and a parrotfish, Scarus 

 sp. It was a female with seven embryos. 



Muraenidae (Morays) 



Lycodontis javanicus (Bleeker) (Figure 9): This 

 moray is brown with large dark blotches and 

 numerous small dark spots; the gill opening is in a 

 large black spot; there are no pale margins on the 

 fins. It is probably the species of eel reported by 

 Khlentzos (1950) which poisoned 57 Filipino 

 laborers at Saipan, Mariana Islands. In spite of 

 prompt gastric lavage, 14 of these men became 

 comatose and 2 died. 



The severity of illness from the consumption of 

 moray eels led Halstead and Lively (1954) to re- 

 gard this as a distinct category of fish toxemia 



which they termed "Gymnothorax poisoning." 

 However, it appears to be principally an acute 

 form of ciguatera, though there is a possibility of 

 involvement of one or more other toxins. 



Lycodontis javanicus is not common in the Mar- 

 shall Islands, but it is abundant (for a large carni- 

 vore) at Johnston Island; in recent years it has 

 served as the primary source of ciguatoxin for 

 biochemical and pharmacological study at the 

 University of Hawaii by a team of scientists 

 headed by A. H. Banner. 



Nine specimens from Enewetak measuring 

 1,086-1,540 mm TL and weighing 3.6-13.0 kg were 

 tested. All were toxic, two at the 2 level, one at 3, 

 three at 4, and three at 5 from the feeding of liver 

 and viscera to mongooses. The flesh of two of these 

 eels with a mongoose reaction of 4 was tested; one 

 was a 1 and the other a 2. One of the eels with a 

 mongoose test of 5 for liver-viscera gave a reaction 

 of 3 with flesh. 



Brock ( 1972) studied some aspects of the biology 

 oiL. javanicus, including an analysis of the toxic- 

 ity at Johnston Island. Of 1,074 specimens, only 

 158 (14.7%) contained food; 88.8% of the stomach- 

 content material consisted of fishes (representing 

 17 different families, the Scaridae predominat- 

 ing). Among the more interesting prey species was 



Figure Q.— Lycodontis javanicus, 732 

 mm TL, Enewetak, Marshall Islands. 



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