Ciguatera in the Gilbert Islands — COOPER 
know the reefs around the island, nor the tradi- 
tions associated with fish on Arunuka. This and 
the fact that the small population finds plenty of 
fish in the lagoon for all their needs, mean that 
there is a lack of local knowledge concerning 
the outside reefs. In fact, the present Arunukans 
maintain that there are no poisonous fish on the 
island. However, many people, all members of 
ships’ crews, have been poisoned at Arunuka; 
the fish have been caught either in or somewhere 
near the anchorage, or on the reefs on the north 
side of the anchorage by an uninhabited islet. 
It has not been possible to find out the exact 
positions of the reefs that are considered to be 
toxic, and those marked on the map of Arunuka 
are tentative only. It is definite, however, that 
toxic fish have not been found inside the lagoon. 
It is not known when fish became toxic on 
Arunuka, but between 1929 and 1937 many 
species are reputed to have been dangerous to 
eat. Just before World War II two members of 
the crew of the Burns Philip vessel Moamoa ate 
a large Epinephelus fuscoguttatus which had 
(probably Epinephelus fuscoguttatus ), and were 
severely poisoned. Another time, according to 
one old Arunukan, a whole village went out 
communal fishing and caught "over one hundred 
big grouper,” of which only one fish was poi- 
sonous, and the unlucky family who consumed 
it were very ill. 
Despite the Arunukans’ ideas to the contrary, 
all the ships’ crews still consider that large Luti- 
anus boh or, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, and Mu- 
raenidae are toxic when caught in or near the 
anchorage. In January, 1962, the crew of the 
Co-operative vessel "Aratoba” were poisoned by 
a large Epinephelus fuscoguttatus which had 
been caught by the reefs on the north side of 
the anchorage. 
Nonouti 
Nonouti is a lagoon island in the southern 
Gilberts, with a land area of nearly 10 square 
miles and a population in 1958 of 2,143. There 
is an annual average rainfall of about 50 inches. 
Poisonous fish have been known on Nonouti for 
many years. Ships may enter Nonouti lagoon, 
which is large, north of Autaken reef (see Fig. 
7 ) , but the passage is not easy and many ships’ 
masters prefer to remain at anchor just south of 
Autaken reef and work the island by boat. The 
427 
toxic area is around this southern anchorage and 
includes the neighboring reefs. There are no 
toxic fish inside the lagoon. 
The "old men” of Nonouti told us that they 
could not remember a time when fish were not 
toxic on this reef — which memory probably 
dates back 50 years to 1910 — -but that they re- 
member hearing that a vessel was wrecked there 
in 1890, and that this was the start of the poi- 
soning in the area. The Gilbertese name for this 
area, Te Tamm (not on the Admiralty charts), 
was derived from the name of the wrecked ship. 
The Nonouti people are not quite certain which 
species are still toxic there because, from long- 
standing custom, they do not fish on those reefs. 
However, crews of all ships do fish in the an- 
chorage, and they say that in 1948 and 1949 very 
many fish were toxic on these reefs and that 
by 1958 only a few species remained poisonous. 
In 1962 Lutianus bohar, all large Muraenidae, 
and any particularly large groupers (Serranidae) 
were the only fish they considered still remained 
toxic. 
Eels are very plentiful on Nonouti, and a 
specialty of the island is dried eel. Eel traps are 
set in the deep water of the lagoon and boat 
passages. The large eels which are so caught are 
cut into pieces and dried in the sun. The result- 
ing rather smelly, very greasy pieces of fksh are 
sold for a remarkably high price to the Chinese 
on Nauru. The "old men” say that, as long as 
the eels are taken only from the lagoon and boat 
passages, they are not toxic, and that by cus- 
tomary law no Nonouti fisherman would dare to 
trap eels outside the lagoon. 
Tabiteuea 
Tabiteuea (in U. S. Sailing Directions, Tapi- 
teua ) , the largest of the Gilbert Islands, with a 
land area of 19 square miles, is a lagoon island 
in the south. The population in 1958 was 3,266, 
and the annual average rainfall is 47 inches. 
There is an extensive area of reefs and shoal 
patches lying to the west of the southern por- 
tion of Tabiteuea. These reefs are not shown on 
the Admiralty chart, as the survey of Tabiteuea 
is not yet completed. Somewhere among these 
reefs is a shoal patch known on Tabiteuea 
as Takoronga Inanon, which at times is large 
enough to be covered with a growth of Scaevola 
frutescens, and at other times is a mere sandbank 
