Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1900-09-27
FISHES HELD TO BE POISONOUS
some of Them Really very 1000
Eating while Their bad Fame
Protects Them.

Protects Them.
The old fishermen Of San Juan Capis
trano, Cal. say that there is something
peculiar about the fish this year. In
the first place the water is alive with
sunfish, which sport in the waves all
day long, vast schools almost covering
the surface at times. The suntish is one
of the most remarkable of all fishes.
1t has apparently had its body cut on
Just behind the fins, leaving an absurd
rim of flesh in lieu OF tail. II is OBJ
long in shape and is incapable of rapid
movement; indeed, il can be caught
with a boathook. 1t attains large
size, several having been seen which
were estimated at IS feet across. Its
skin is hard and rough, and covered
with slime, which at night is at times
luminous, making the fish remark
able object as il sails through the up
per portion of the ocean, says the New
York Sun.
Sunfish are utterly useless. To the
taste the flesh is insipid and soft, while
the skin itself is an inch or more in
thickness, more like india rubber than
anything else. AS large as il is, the
sunfish lives upon diet of jelly fishes,
which il tears in pieces with its power.
full bonelike teeth. The Santa Catalina
Channel is a famous cruising ground
for these fishes at all times, but the
school which has taken possession OF
the waters this season is unusual and
appears to be made up of young fish.
A very common fish on the California
coast and in Florida is moray, an eel
like creature as large as mans arm
and four feet in length. The snakelike
appearance Of the fish is its protection,
and, consequently, one Of the best edi-
bic fishes is lost to the epicure as the
moray cannot be given away in south.
ern Florida as a food FISH and in Flor
ida also people refuse TO eat il on ac-
count Of its appearance.
The list Of UNBEATABLE fishes is large.
Some Of the Cuban fishes are poisonous,
and so deep-seated is the prejudice
against them, that up to within few
years an American fleet Of smacks and
schooners from Long Island almost
controlled the Havana FISH trade,
catching all their fish on the Florida
reef, 90 or 50 miles away, and carrying
them to Havana in their wells. When
asked what the trouble was with the
Cuban fish the local fishermen invari-
ably answered that there was so much
copper on the bottom that the fishes
were all permeated with IL, and those
who ate them were poisoned, though
no one ever heard Of anyone dying
from such a cause. In New England a
person who ate a sculpin would be
looked upon with amazement. A Maine
fisherman upon one occasion explained
that sculpins were ''pizen," and went
so far as 10 point out the poisonous
fms, and described the case OF a mate
who had lost his arm by being poisoned
by one, but the truth is that the spines
- many fishes are poisonous when
they run into the flesh, and serious
wounds are often the result. yet the
fish themselves cannot be said 10 be
poisonous. A Californian says: THE
sculpin is the best eating fish in these
or any waters, but the trouble Is that
half the fishermen think il Is poison
Gus, and the consumers win not take
such a looking fish; so the delicate
white meat goes to waste. II is all on
account Of the appearance Of the fish,
which looks, with its google eyes and
'pihes, like a japanese mask"
Nearly all the rays are eaten by the
Chinese and considered delicaeies, but
iome people have a prejudice against
them, as they are supposed to have a
sting and TO be poisonous. Sharks |
come under the ban, though the Chi |
nese rank shark fins when made into
/ jelly next to birds nest soup. The I
Bahama barracuda, which attains a
arge siz, is at times extremely poison /
Jus, and people have been known to die 7.
rom eating il; but this was at certain
seasons. Very few fishes are poisonous
n the strict sense OF the word-thatis, |
rave poisonous gland; but such a one |
$ the toadfish, a toadlike creature
which has upon its back series Of |
pines that are essentially poisonous.
The porcupine fish is said to be poison
us, and being completely covered with /
ong spines. il is certainly a disagree |
BILE creature TO meet, and few persons /
would have the temerity TO clean one.
he parrot fish of the Florida reef also
alls beneath the poison ban, in all 4
because it is green; GER
ainly the meat is sweet, the writer
sving caught and eaten many. One
4 the gar fishes is pronounced deadly
y many fishermen on account of the
on il, which is merely a
luminous fin, beacon light to fellow
shes
]