In the Caribbean area the poisoning outbreaks ere in most oases 

 attributable to a fairly small number of species of fish of the families 

 Carangidae, Sconbridae, and Sphyraenidae , notably the amber jack ( Seriola 

 falcata)j the horse-eyed jack ( Caranx latus ) ; the king mackerel ( Scomberomorus. 

 cavalla) ; and the great barracuda ( Sphyraena barracuda ). Certain other 

 fish occasionally have also been reported to be poisonous; these are the 

 hogfish (Laohnolaimus maximus ) ; the red snapper ( Lutjanus blackf ordii ) ; 

 the red grouper ( Epinephelus morio ) ; the yellowfin grouper ( UycteroplTrca 

 venenosa); and the tiger rockfish ( Mycteroperoa tigris ). However, the 

 amberjack, the horse-eyed jack, the king mackerel, and the barracuda are 

 the most consistent offenders. 



In the Paoifio area, most of the poisoning cases reported have 

 been caused by puffers and porcupine fish. However, the following fish 

 also have been reported toxia; barracuda; Caranx spp.; the red snapper 

 (Lutjanus bohar); a grouper ( Epinephelus sp.); the red sea bass ( Variola 

 louti) ; the blaok sea bass ( Serranus f usooguttatus ) ; and the oilfish 

 (Ruvettus pretiosus ) • 



Table 1 lists some of the fish reported as poisonous in the 

 Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. It is doubtful whether these fish 

 implicated in the poisoning were accurately identified. This is not 

 surprising inasmuoh as few of the investigators were iohthyologists, and 

 many of the fish have different common names in different localities. 

 Identification of the species is often difficult even when a sample of 

 the fish is available, yet it has been found that in some instances, that 

 identification of the species had been determined by ichthyologists from a 

 description given to them by the investigator of the poisoning outbreak who 

 in turn had obtained it from the patient. This merely contributes to the 

 already existing confusion regarding fish poisoning. 



