Table 3° — Fish poisoning outbreaks in the Pacific area recorded in the 



literature 



Authority 



Number of Number of 

 Date Outbreaks Individuals 



Fish Responsible 



Lee and Pang 

 Lee and Pang 

 Vonfraenkel, et al c 

 Gatewood 

 Cohen r et alo 

 Cohen, et" aT. 



Plack sea bass 1/ 

 Red sea bass 2/ 



Barracuda 

 Lutjanus bohar 

 Ruvettus pretiosus 3/ 

 Ruvettus pretiosus 



1/ This is identified as Serranus fuscoguttatus from patients' description, 



2/ This is identified as Variola ~louti 



5/ This was identified by Dr. L- p. Schultz from a description furnished 



~ by the investigators 



Theories Regarding Fish Poisoning 



Numerous theories as to the causative agent or agents responsible 

 for Ciguatera have evolved during the course of four centuries, but little 

 has been done to either prove or disprove these theories by actual investi- 

 gations. The most popular theories regarding the cause of fish poisoning 

 are that it is either of endogenous origin or of bacterial origin,. 



Endogenous Origin 



The former hypothesis suggests that the poisoning is due to a 

 toxin which is formed either by the ovaries or testes of the fish during the 

 spawning season, or is due to the fish feeding on certain material that does 

 not harm the fish but renders the flesh toxic, A review of the literature 

 revealed that most of these theories regarding the endogenous origin of the 

 toxin are the result of analogy unsupported by any actual investigations. 



An exception is made in regard to the puffers, on which much 

 exacting biochemical work has been done in Japan, The ovaries of the female 

 and to a lesser extent the spermaries of the male of these fish contain 

 toxic substances during the breeding season. Also, the toxin has been found 

 to be present in lesser concentrations in other tissues, particularly the 

 viscera. The theory that fish which cause Ciguatera are toxic during spawning 

 season has no factual basis for support. Nothing is known of the spawning 

 habits of the fishes responsible for this poisoning, Gudger, an authority 

 on the habits of the great barracuda, frankly admits nothing is known of the 

 spawning habits of this fish (Gudger 1918). The only outbreak implicating 

 a spawning fish is that reported by Gregory (1925) in which the causative 

 fish was a female yellow jack carrying well developed roe. If spawning is 

 the causative factor in Ciguatera, it might be expected that all sexually 

 mature fish of a given species would be toxio. This has been shown to be 

 not true. 



