BLACK ELEPHANT FISH

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28445, 27 November 1957, Page 20

BLACK ELEPHANT FISH

Unusual Catch Near Timaru

For the last week several technicians at the Christchurch Hospital histology department have been trying to identify the cause of black flesh on an elephant fish.

Elephant fish are usually white and are common off the coast of New Zealand. A little more than two weeks ago a local fisherman fishing off the coast at Timaru caught a large number of elephant fish and among them was a black one.

At the Christchurch fish market the fish was put aside and was later given to Professor E. Percival, head of the zoology department at the University of Canterbury. Professor Percival said that he had not seen a similar fish. He gave the fish to the hospital to identify. The director of the pathology .department (Dr. D. T. Stewart) said yesterday that the blackness was a pigment. During the first experiment on the fish the pigment was thought to have been similar to that found in negroes. Later experiments proved this wrong. Dr. Stewart said that he now believed the pigment was similar to that found in aged persons. There was a possibility that the fish was a very old one, he said. There was little chance of the blackness being caused by radioactive material. Water pressure was also ruled out, Dr. Stewart said. The fish was caught at about 70 fathoms.