682 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Indies. One of the commonest fish in these seas is the barracuda 

 (Sphyroena barracuda}, which can be easily recognized by its elon- 

 gated body, covered with cycloid scales. The color is dark olive- 

 green on the back, fading to a lighter green on the sides, while its 

 under surface is silvery white. The mouth is wide and curved, with 

 long and sharp teeth. These fishes are large and voracious, often 

 attaining the length of six feet; and as they are usually found close 

 inshore, amid the heaviest surf, they are as much feared by fisher- 

 men and bathers as the shark. Indeed, they are more to be feared, 

 for the shark as a rule is timid, and unless extremely hungry is cau- 

 tious in its voracity. The barracuda, on the contrary, is very bold. 

 The shark flees from a splashing in the water, but the barracuda 

 goes there to see what he may find, as he is only attracted by live 

 bait. The wounds inflicted by the barracuda are exceedingly severe 

 and sometimes fatal. 



When young this fish is generally used as food, but having at- 

 tained a certain size the flesh becomes exceedingly noxious, at least 

 at certain seasons of the year. This change is said to be due to the 

 poisonous fish on which they feed. "When caught on certain banks, 

 as the Formigas, their flesh is always extremely unwholesome, and, 

 as Kingsley says, they have this advantage, that while they can al- 

 ways eat you, you can not often eat them with impunity. The 

 Cubans, as a rule, will not touch this fish, and at Santa Cruz it is the 

 custom never to eat it till the next day, and then not till after salt- 

 ing it; but that is apparently no safeguard, as four persons living 

 in Kingston, Jamaica, suffered severely after eating " corned bar- 

 racuda." 



It is stated that when unwholesome, its teeth will be found of a 

 blackened color at the base, and on inserting a silver coin into its 

 flesh this will also turn black. The poisonous symptoms caused by 

 this fish are peculiar, and were strongly marked in the case of a friend 

 of mine who was a solicitor living in Barbados. He and several 

 others who had partaken of the same fish suffered from severe gas- 

 tro-intestinal disorder, with intense nausea and vomiting. His face 

 swelled up and became tubercular like a leper; afterward, general 

 muscular tremblings and acute pain about the body, particularly in 

 the joints of his hands and arms, came on. The nails of his feet 

 and hands became black and fell off without any pain, and his 

 hair also fell out. For years after he suffered from debility and 

 tubercular skin eruptions. Death sometimes follows, but those 

 who do not die suffer for a long time from its effects, which in some 

 cases last for twenty-five years. 



The " yellow-tailed sprat " (Clupea thrissa") is common in the 

 West Indies, and may be recognized by having its last dorsal ray 



