Adaptations of Fishes 



i8' 



the writer has tested, is very meager and bitter, having a de- 

 cidedly offensive taste. It is suspected, probably justly, of be- 

 ing poisonous. In the globefishes the flesh is always more or 

 less poisonous, that of Tetraodon hispidns, called muki-muki, 

 or death-fish, in Hawaii, is reputed as excessively so. The poi- 

 sonous fishes have been lately studied in detail by Dr. Jacques 

 Pellegrin, of the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle at Paris. He 

 shows that any species of fish may be poisonous under certain 

 circumstances, that under certain conditions certain species are 

 poisonous, and that certain kinds are poisonous more or less at 



Fig. 137. — Tetraodon meleagns (Lacepede). Riu Kiu Islands. 



all times. The following account is condensed from Dr. Pelle- 

 grin' s observations. 



The flesh of fishes soon undergoes decomposition in hot 

 climates. The consumption of decayed fish may produce 

 serious disorders, usually with symptoms of diarrhoea or erup- 

 tion of the skin. There is in this case no specific poison, but 

 the formation of leucomaines through the influence of bacteria. 

 This may take place with other kinds of flesh, and is known as 

 botolism, or allantiasis. For this disease, as produced by the 

 flesh of fishes, Dr. Pellegrin suggests the name of ichthyosism. 

 It is especially severe in certain very oily fishes, as the tunny, 

 the anchovy, or the salmon. The flesh of these and other fishes 

 occasionally produces similar disorders through mere indiges- 

 tion. In this case the flesh undergoes decay in the stomach. 



