Contributions from the Biological Laboratory of the U, S. Fish Commission, 
Woods Hole, Massachusetts. 
THE GAS-BUBBLE DISEASE OF FISH AND ITS CAUSE. 
By F. P. GORHAM, A. M., 
Assistant Professor of Biology , Brown University. 
For several years it has been noticed that many salt-water fish when kept in 
aquaria develop, after a longer or shorter period, a disease which is first manifested in 
the formation of vesicles of gas on the fins or other parts of the body. These vesicles 
gradually increase in size and number, and finally invade all superficial parts of the 
animal. The fins, one after another, become affected, and the vesicles frequently form 
in the eyeball, beneath the cornea, or in the loose connective tissue of the orbit, so that 
the eyes are forced from their sockets; less frequently the bubbles gather beneath the 
mucous membrane lining the mouth and gill-arches, or beneath the integument, partic- 
ularly along the lateral line, so that the scales are raised from flie surface. The pres- 
ence of these vesicles often disturbs the equilibrium of the fish so that it swims about 
with its head elevated, or, more frequently, directed downward or tilted to one side. 
The disease has been noticed only in fish kept in the aquaria. It has not been 
found in specimens taken from the sea, nor lias it been observed in fish kept in “cars” 
in deep water, nor in those retained in “pounds,” the water of which is from <> to 12 
feet in depth. The affected fish live a shorter or longer time after the vesicles begin to 
appear, some succumbing in a few hours, others resisting the disease for several weeks. 
Young “ puffers” usually die in less than 24 hours after being placed in the aquaria, but 
several scup lived for weeks after their eyes had actually dropped from their sockets. 
The following fish were affected by the disease during the spring and summer of 
1898, and the list includes all the fish, with two exceptions, which were kept in the 
aquaria of the Fish Commission at Woods Hole, Mass., from March to September: 
Common name. 
Scientilic name. 
Bathymetric 
range. 
Fathoms. 
1 to 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
30 
30 
30 
30 
15 
300 
150 
80 
80 
10 
35 
100 
40 
10 
F. C. B. 1809—3 
33 
