Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, September 1899: Vol. LV, May to October, 1899Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, September 1899: Vol. LV, May to October, 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
A Spanish naval surgeon, Don Anton Jurado, while serving on board the
gunboat Magallanes had an opportunity of proving Poey's statement that
the fishes caught on the coast of Cuba are often very poisonous. No
less than twenty-seven of the officers and men were taken ill, most of
them with gastro-intestinal disturbance of a more or less severe
nature; the others suffered from nervous symptoms.
The horse mackerel, green cavalla, and the jack are often found most
unwholesome when caught in West Indian waters.
In Barbados a whole family were seized with symptoms simulating
cholera from eating "green cavalla."
The editor of The Barbadian writes: "We think it right to caution
people against the fish called 'green cavalla' from being purchased by
their cooks. Some years ago we know that several individuals were
extremely ill from eating this fish, which is frequently very
poisonous. The night before last a whole family in Bridgetown, except
the master, who fortunately had dined out, were seized with violent
cholera after having partaken of cavalla."
The "jack" (_Caran plumieri_) is found to be poisonous in some seasons
of the year, and it is said that at such times two small red lumps
appear in its gills. When they are suspected of being in a poisonous
condition an experiment is tried upon a duck by giving her one of them
to swallow, and if at that season it is poisonous the duck dies in
about two hours. The "rock hind," or "smoky hind," after attaining a
certain size becomes most unwholesome, and often infested with
parasites. Numerous instances of severe symptoms attacking persons
after eating this fish are recorded.
Toadfish, or _Tetrodons_, are occasionally met with, and are to be
avoided as being extremely poisonous, especially if the roe or liver
be eaten. A family of coolies in Trinidad, in spite of being warned,
ate one of these fishes, with a fatal result. The symptoms were
blunted sensibility, trembling, general muscular weakness, difficulty
of breathing, vomiting of blood, convulsions, and death.
The _Diodonts_, "trunkfishes," are not nearly so poisonous as the
_Tetrodonts_, but they are found to be very noxious at certain times
or in certain localities, more especially if the gall bladder, liver,
and intestines are not removed before cooking. It is reported that
those persons who had eaten them suffered from loss of sensibility,
cold sweat over the whole body, and stiffened limbs. Death followed in
some cases.
The "prickly bottle fish" (_Diodon orbicularis_), met with in the Gulf
of Mexico, is said to be injurious when eaten.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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