MARINE TOXINS AND VENOMOUS AND POISONOUS MARINE ANIMALS
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first significant works were those of Tahara (1894, 1910). He isolated
several substances, one a white, hygroscopic powder to which he
assigned the formula C16H,,NO16. It is now apparent that his (‘ tetrodotoxin ” contained less than 1% of the pure toxin. Ishihara (1924)
FIG. 10. Some tetraodontoid fishes implicated in puffer poisoning. Top t o bottom:
Tetmodon hispidue, death puffer; T . meleagrk, white-spotted puffer; T . nigropunctatue, black-spotted puffer ; Sphoeroides annulatue, Gulf puffer; Dbdon hystrix,
porcupinefish. (From Halstead, 1959.)
observed that the reducing properties of the poison increased on
hydrolysis, and concluded that an integral part of the toxin was an
ester of glucose. This was challenged by Nagai and Ito (1939) who
found that ( ( a reducing carbohydrate ” which might have been considered the poisonous substance by Ishihara, ( ( is removed by means
A.M.B.-3
R
321
first significant works were those of Tahara (1894, 1910). He isolated
several substances, one a white, hygroscopic powder to which he
assigned the formula C16H,,NO16. It is now apparent that his (‘ tetrodotoxin ” contained less than 1% of the pure toxin. Ishihara (1924)
FIG. 10. Some tetraodontoid fishes implicated in puffer poisoning. Top t o bottom:
Tetmodon hispidue, death puffer; T . meleagrk, white-spotted puffer; T . nigropunctatue, black-spotted puffer ; Sphoeroides annulatue, Gulf puffer; Dbdon hystrix,
porcupinefish. (From Halstead, 1959.)
observed that the reducing properties of the poison increased on
hydrolysis, and concluded that an integral part of the toxin was an
ester of glucose. This was challenged by Nagai and Ito (1939) who
found that ( ( a reducing carbohydrate ” which might have been considered the poisonous substance by Ishihara, ( ( is removed by means
A.M.B.-3
R