Poinsonous Fishes

MAN'S KNOWLEDGE of poisonous fishes dates back to ancient times.At least one of the Mosaic laws is believed to have been aimed directly at eliminating poisonous fishes from the Israelite diet, "These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat: And whatever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat: it is unclean unto you" (Deuteronomy 14: 9-10).The French archeologist Claude Gaillard reported that hieroglyphics and figures of the deadly Tetraodon lineatuws appear frequently on ancient Egyptian tombs (1), and according to the Egyptologist Keimer, this scaleless species was recognized as poisonous during the time of the Pharaohs.Galen is said to have reported in his De Alimentis that the flesh of the moray is dangerous to eat (2).Alexander the Great forbade his soldiers to eat BRUCE W. HALSTEAD, M.D. fish during conquests because he believed that some species produced skin disorders.Peter Martyr, the first historian of the West Indies, made the earliest reference to ciguatera in 1555 (3).In de Landa's famous Relacion de Las Cosas de Yucatan, written in 1566, the lethal qualities of puffers are mentioned (4).Beginning with the 19th century, hundreds of publications appeared on the subject of fish Dr. Halstead is generally regarded as the world's leading authority on poisonous fishes.