Fish Poisons or Piscicides
David S. Seigler
Department of Plant Biology
University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois 61801 USA
seigler@life.illinois.edu
http://www.life.illinois.edu/seigler
Outline - Fish Poisons (Piscicides)
Piscicides
o none important commercially
o rotenoids active at 1 part in 10 X 106
Reading
• CHAPTER 12 and lecture material
Introduction
• Many plant products are used in "primitive
societies" to capture or kill game. These
range from those used to coat or tip arrows
and spears to those used to poison or stun
fish (sometimes called piscicides or
barbascos).
• We have benefited from these unusual uses
(to us) in that we use these compounds
medicinally and for insecticides.
• Plants also have been used to capture fish in
many cultures (including former European
cultures).
• The fish poisons used generally render the
fish helpless, but not poisonous to the people
that eat them.
• Often, as little as 1 part in 10 million is
effective in stunning the fish.
Preparing to capture
fish with plantderived piscicides in
Venezuela
Trees of Ghana
Preparing fish poisons for use in Hawaii
Chuck Kritzon, Fishing with Poisons,
http://www.primitiveways.com/fish_toxins.html
• One of the most effective types involves
plants of the Fabaceae or Leguminosae of
the genera Derris (Asian), Lonchocarpus
(South American), and Tephrosia.
• The active compounds from these plants are
called rotenoids. They are used today in our
culture as insecticides.
Derris elliptica,
Fabaceae
Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER)
Photo by Agnes Rinehart
Lonchocarpus purpureus, Fabaceae
Other rotenoid-containing plants
Tephrosia virginiana,
Fabaceae
• Many other plants used as fish poisons
contain "saponins" or organic soap-like
materials.
• One of the most famous fish poisons
involves fruits of the genus Barringtonia
(Lecythidaceae or Barringtoniaceae).
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/FACULTY/CARR/i
mages/bar_asi_cu.jpg
Piscidia piscipula,
Fabaceae
Piscidia piscipula leaf
material has long
been used to capture
fish in Mexico and
Central America. The
active principles are
also known to be
rotenoids.
F.E. Köhler, Medizinal Pflanzen GeraUntermhaus, 1887
Menispermaceae
• Many plants of the Menispermaceae
have alkaloids. Although some of these
have been used to capture fish, those of
two genera commonly used as
piscicides, Anamirta and Cocculus,
however, contain picrotoxins, a complex
structural group of sesquiterpenes.
Anamirta cocculus,
Menispermaceae
F.E. Köhler, Medizinal Pflanzen GeraUntermhaus, 1887
Cocculus carolinus, Menispermaceae
Sapindaceae and Sapotaceae (mostly saponins) often
are used.
Soapberry, Sapindus
drummondii,
Sapindaceae
Monilla or Mexican buckeye, Ungnadia speciosa,
Sapindaceae
• Acacia or wattle species have been
used for fish poisons in Australia. To
date, the active compounds have not
been identified.
Fish poison tree
seedpod, Acacia
ditricha
Fish poison wattle,
Acacia holosericea
Chuck Kritzon, Fishing with Poisons,
http://www.primitiveways.com/fish_poison.html