pupilo Attains a length of more than oris metsro Occurs in cur.fijce water;; 

 all ovsT the South Ser,s„ Easily caught on trollin'^ i^ear ond Icn-^ linea„ 

 C Tables 6, 7, 8j 

 [Page 28] 



Toxicity . As showh in the table, of two cats tested, the one '.vhich 

 took 7,2 ^ams of cooked flesh died after 20 hours. Of 4 mice \iihich ate 

 the liver, one vjhich took 1 n;ram sho^ved some ill effects, and of 10 which 

 ate muscle tissue, 2 which ate cooked tissue were affected, 



A case was described at Jaluit in which a ship's crew of more than 

 ten men were all poisoned to such an extent that the functioninr; of the 

 limbs and of the mouth nas imptiired in some of them, while others were un- 

 able to stand up. The fish was said to have been over one meter in length. 



In another case at Saipan sixteen fishermen ate -the fish and only one 

 of them was poisonedo Accordln': to this man's story, a short tiioe after 

 eating (about 5 minutes) he vomited. After that he be5;an to feel a numb- 

 ness spreadin/T from around his mouth. He felt as if his body were floating 

 In space, his feet would not hold the oround, and he became as if drunk 

 on sake . After stayinr* in bed for 2 or 3 days he recovered. 



The Jaluit natives say that the larger fish are violently poisonous. 

 They also say that they do not know of any particular season for eating 

 this fish. 



The specimens caught by the author were all of about 90 cm, and it 

 was unfortunately not possible to test small fish, however, the large ones 

 were, as shown above, very clearly poisonous. It is interesting that the 

 natives' statement that only the large fish are poisonous is in agreement 

 with Poey's observations in Cuba. 



Although it is certain that the larger barracuda of which the natives 

 speak belong to this species, it may be that the small ones are not the 

 young of this species but rather that they belong to the species described 

 in the next section. There is room for further study on this ooint. 

 These two species of barracuda are not differentiated by the Japanese 

 except as to size; they only know that some of the "arshallese consider 

 them separate species. There is doubt on this point, but the dokuhiraa.U 

 described later in this report presents the same phenomenon, that is to say, 

 only the large ones are poisonous. The settlement of the question of 

 whether Poey was right about this species or whether it is a mntter'of con- 

 fusion with a different species must be left to a later time. Also, in 

 i^gard to the problem of whether these fish are especially poisonous during 

 an annual spawning season, we have not made a year-round investigation 

 and consequently have no data, even the spawning season being unknown, 



[Page 29] 9, Omeka/nasu (Plate 3 Figure 9) 



Scientific name - Sphyraena forsteri Cuvier & Valenciennes 

 Local name - .jure (?fershallese) 



Distribution - Indian Ocean, South Seas, Fiji 



?'orphology - Very similar to the above species, differing principally in 

 that the mouth is smaller with the corner of the mouth not reaching -as far 

 as the anterior rim of the eye. Scales small, 12? on the lateral line. 

 Eye large, going about 6 times in the head length (in the preceding 

 species it goes about 9,3 times )• Does not become as large as the 



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