PLANKTON 61 



barracuda, and puffer. They have divided fish poisoning into four clinical 

 groups, the last three of which are probably planktogenic: 



1. Tetraodon (puffer) poisoning 3. Ciguatera 



2. Gymnotborax (Moray eel) poisoning 4. Scombroid poisoning 



Tetraodontoxin is the only ichthyosarcotoxin about which anything 

 specific is known. Japanese studies indicate it is a white hygroscopic powder, 

 soluble in water but not in the ordinary organic solvents. Although it is 

 thought to have a formula of C 16 H 31 N0 16 , little else is known except 

 that it is not an alkaloid or a protein or a protamine. It is a most potent 

 poison, with symptoms occurring within thirty minutes of ingestion. 

 Initially there are numbness and tingling of the face and extremities, then 

 nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness and overwhelming weakness. Next 

 come speech impairment, dyspnea, and generalized muscular paralysis. 

 Death from respiratory paralysis may occur in 1-24 hours. The mortality 

 rate is about 60 per cent. 



In Gymnotborax poisoning, similar neurotoxic manifestations are seen 

 at first, but then the patient develops motor incoordination and violent 

 convulsions, laryngeal spasm, coma, and respiratory paralysis. Here the 

 mortality rate is only about 10 per cent, and, in the non-fatal cases, major 

 symtomatology disappears in about ten days. With Ciguatera (originally 

 considered only Caribbean), the attacks are milder than with Gymnotborax 

 and usually come on more slowly. The chief symptoms include sensory 

 disturbances, myalgias, arthralgias, and severe weakness. Only 2-3 per 

 cent of the victims die, but recovery may take many months. Scombroid 

 poisoning results from eating various tropical tuna-type fish. The mani- 

 festations are mostly histamine-like: headache, flushing of the face, con- 

 junctivitis, giant hives, erythema, and gastric upset. Recovery usually takes 

 place in 8-12 hours. 



Haffkrankbeit — erroneously designated "Haff's Disease" by some 

 enthusiastic eponymist — was first described in 1924 295 among fishermen 

 in Koenigsberg HafT ("harbor") in East Prussia. It follows contact or 

 ingestion of fish (primarily eels) and fish livers. It is characterized by a 

 sudden onset of weakness, severe myalgia, myoglobinuria, and some 

 digestive upset. Pathological findings include fatty degeneration of the 

 liver and kidneys, and damage to the anterior horn cells of the spinal 

 cord. Over 1,000 people have been reported afflicted, some fatally. Similar 

 episodes have been recorded at Lake Ysmen in Sweden. Originally Haff- 



