[Page 15] CHA-PIER II 



Species of Prisonous Fish and Their Toxicity 



Section 1 Geneiral 



This chapter Is an attempt to record not only all of the poisonous 

 and nonpoisonous varieties tested by the author In person, but also all 

 whloh have been recorded in the literature or whloh were reported by 

 fishermen and natives to be poisonous but which could not be caught or 

 which were taken when conditions prevented testing them. 



Many of the varieties reported on oould not be identified with cer- 

 tainty because specimens could not be obtained and the local names and 

 inadequate descriptions were all we had to go on. Also, some of them 

 could only be considered as fish with poisonous spines and these are all 

 taken up in Section 12. 



In the case of varieties which were acoxirately identified either by 

 descriptions or by catching specimens but which could not be tested, we 

 have recorded In this chapter all testimony received regarding their toxi- 

 city. In order to serve as a basis for judging its comparative strength. 



The following table gives all the speoies which can be considered 

 poisonous as a result of this study. The taxonomic relationships between 

 these many speoies are interesting. They fall into a n«aber of taxonomlo 

 groupings and are not scattered at random teuconomically. In other words, 

 poisonous fish only occur in certain families and certain genera. This 

 is Just the same situation that is foxmd in Japan where the poisonous 

 fishes are limited to the Tetraodontldae and even to the genus Tstraodon . 



Looking at the Class Pleoes as a whole, we find that of its hundreds 

 of families, only twelve Include poisonous fish. Considered from the 

 point of view of species, authorities differ, but the number of speoies 

 In the Class Is between ten and thirty thousand, and the nianber of 

 poisonous species, including not only those considered in this investiga- 

 tion but also those found In foreign countries, does not come up to one 

 hundred. Pish which cause poisoning when eaten are only a very few 

 species, considering fish as a whole, and they belong to a very few taxo- 

 nomlo divisions. 



[Paget 16 and 17] Reference table of poisonous fish (46 species, cetraodonts 

 omitted) 



[Page 18] 



It should be noted that this is not to say that all of the fish in 

 these families and genera are poisonous. They also contain edible apeoies 

 which are completely nonpoisonous. 



The following sections are organised aooording to the taxonomio 



divisions. 



16 



