VENOMOUS FISH 



235 



Section 1. — Poison Apparatus Entirely Closed, 



The apparatus is connected with the dorsal fin, and is passively 

 defensive — that is to say, the fish cannot eject the poison unless 

 the barb is broken. 



Examples.- — Synanceia [brachio and many other species) ; Plotosus 

 arab. 



Synanceia {brachio and many other species). — This fish, called 

 ' rapau de mer ' in Reunion, ' lafte ' in Mauritius, ' ikan Satan ' in 

 Java, and ' nohu ' in Tahiti, is distributed through the waters of 

 the Indies, Cochin China, New Caledonia, and the Pacific Ocean. 



Its poison apparatus is connected with the dorsal fin, which has 

 thirteen barbs, each of which is supplied with two poison reservoirs, 

 to which belong ten or twelve tubular glands. It cannot eject the 

 poison itself, but if trodden upon by the naked foot, the barbs 

 enter the skin, and the poison is pressed mechanically into the 

 wound. The venom is limpid, bluish, and slightly acid. The 



Fig. 27. — Synanceia verrucosa Schneider. 

 (From Savtschenko's ' Atlas of Poisonous Fish.') 



symptoms are severe pain, spreading up the limb. The sufferer 

 becom.es violent, throwing himself from side to side, and even 

 asking to have his foot cut off. Sometimes syncope and death 

 may take place. In other cases abscesses and symptoms of blood- 

 poisoning may be noted. The skin surrounding the wound becomes 

 bluish, and may slough, in which case repair takes a very long time 

 to be completed. 



Plotosus anguillaris. — ^Tbis fish, called ' machoira ' in Reunion and 

 Mauritius, ' sanbilang ' in Malay, ' koormat ' in Abyssinia, is found 

 in the waters of India, of the Seychelles, and other places men- 

 tioned above. The poison apparatus is connected with the dorsal 

 fin, and the conditions which bring about the wound, together with 

 the symptoms, resemble those of Synanceia. 



Saccobranchus fossilis. — ^This fish is found in the waters of India 

 and Ceylon, and wounds caused by its pectoral fins are much 

 dreaded by the natives, as they produce severe inflammation and 

 even tetanic symptoms. 



