For clinical data see above
Genus/Species
Gempylotoxic fish
Species
Ruvettus pretiosus (Gempylidae)
Taxonomy
Pisces; Osteichthyes; Perciformes
Common names
Oilfish, Escolar, Ölfisch
Distribution
Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Biology
Elongated, spindle-shaped fish with a length of up to 1.8 or even 2 m and may rech a weight of over 60 kg. Often at depths deeper than 200 m, ascending higher in the water column at night. The flesh has a very high oil content and contains waxy esters too; it is estimated for the dense structure especially by Polynesians. The oil/waxy eters have a laxative effect that is not eliminated through boiling or frying. Other fish whose oil can cause a similar effect are Erilepis zonifer (Skilfish, Anoplopomatidae) and Allocuttus Verucosus ("John Dory", Zeidae).
Risk
As these fish do not taste particularly good, they are not eaten frequently and thus poisoning only occurs rarely. Cases are usually mild and are thus not necessarily recognised as being fish poisoning. The Escolar is also potentially ciguatoxic.
Literature (biological)
Halstead 1988, 2001a, Auerbach and Halstead 1989, Bagnis et al. 1970, Pepperell 2010