ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the toxins that are found principally or exclusively in the eggs and ovaries of marine and fresh-water fishes and amphibians. The classification of poisonous fish according to the tissue that is the predominant source of the toxin, as suggested by B. W. Halstead, has been convenient during a time when most of the toxins were unknown or poorly characterized. With the identification of the chemical nature of these toxins, it seems more logical to classify poisonous fishes on the basis of the chemistry of the toxin. M. Asano and M. Itoh extracted a toxic lipoprotein from blenny roe that they designated lipostichaerin. Dinogunellin is a toxic lipoprotein that has so far been identified in the roe of only two species of the order Perciformes. Intoxication in many may become evident in 30 to 60 min. The symptoms consist of numbness of the lips, tongue, and often the fingers and arms, muscular paralysis, ataxia, and incoordination.
