Toxicity of the Surgeonfishes

Abstract

Specimens of surgeonfishes, Ctenochaetus striatus and Acanthurus lineatus, collected in Tahiti contained both fat-soluble and water-soluble toxins. The fat-soluble toxin was purified by column chromatography and compared with reference ciguatoxin by thin layer chromatography. The results clearly indicated that it is chromatographically identical with ciguatoxin. It was also present in the stomach contents strongly supporting the previous hypothesis that the surgeonfishes obtain ciguatoxin from their diet and transfer it to the carnivores through food chain. The water-soluble toxin found in the stomach contents was non-diffusible through a cellophane membrane, extractable with 1-butanol from aqueous solution, positive to both the Dragendorff and ninhydrin reagents, and showed hemolytic and ichthyotoxic properties.