Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 55.djvu/702

682 Indies. One of the commonest fish in these seas is the barracuda (Sphyræna barracuda), which can be easily recognized by its elongated body, covered with cycloid scales. The color is dark olive-green on the back, fading to a lighter green on the sides, while its under surface is silvery white. The mouth is wide and curved, with long and sharp teeth. These fishes are large and voracious, often attaining the length of six feet; and as they are usually found close inshore, amid the heaviest surf, they are as much feared by fishermen and bathers as the shark. Indeed, they are more to be feared, for the shark as a rule is timid, and unless extremely hungry is cautious in its voracity. The barracuda, on the contrary, is very bold. The shark flees from a splashing in the water, but the barracuda goes there to see what he may find, as he is only attracted by live bait. The wounds inflicted by the barracuda are exceedingly severe and sometimes fatal.

When young this fish is generally used as food, but having attained a certain size the flesh becomes exceedingly noxious, at least at certain seasons of the year. This change is said to be due to the poisonous fish on which they feed. When caught on certain banks, as the Formigas, their flesh is always extremely unwholesome, and, as Kingsley says, they have this advantage, that while they can always eat you, you can not often eat them with impunity. The Cubans, as a rule, will not touch this fish, and at Santa Cruz it is the custom never to eat it till the next day, and then not till after salting it; but that is apparently no safeguard, as four persons living in Kingston, Jamaica, suffered severely after eating "corned barracuda."

It is stated that when unwholesome, its teeth will be found of a blackened color at the base, and on inserting a silver coin into its flesh this will also turn black. The poisonous symptoms caused by this fish are peculiar, and were strongly marked in the case of a friend of mine who was a solicitor living in Barbados. He and several others who had partaken of the same fish suffered from severe gastro-intestinal disorder, with intense nausea and vomiting. His face swelled up and became tubercular like a leper; afterward, general muscular tremblings and acute pain about the body, particularly in the joints of his hands and arms, came on. The nails of his feet and hands became black and fell off without any pain, and his hair also fell out. For years after he suffered from debility and tubercular skin eruptions. Death sometimes follows, but those who do not die suffer for a long time from its effects, which in some cases last for twenty-five years.

The "yellow-tailed sprat" (Clupea thrissa) is common in the West Indies, and may be recognized by having its last dorsal ray