Table 3 List of Spanish traditional remedies based on the use of fish

Acipenser sturio

Meat

Rabies

It is useful for rabid dog bite (?)

—

Meat

Bite and stings from venomous animals

“If a person who has been bitten by a snake eats the crocodile like fish and then drinks wine vomits, this is good and will save them from death. This fish is useful for bites from the horned viper and those of scorpions and salamanders. If the sea hare is crushed in vinegar and applied this also relieves pain” (IN–EMP)

—

Swim bladder

Lumbago

Give massages with fish jelly. The higher quality gelatin is obtained from the swim bladder of this species (EX–EMP)

Doñana (Andalusia)

Anguilla anguilla

Whole animal

Alcoholism

The drink resulting from drowning two eels in wine … will cause rejection of wine in those who drink it (IN–EMP)

—

Blood

Drunkenness (inebriation)

To remove drunkenness, it is necessary to prepare a potion with wine and three drops of blood of eel, uttering magic words, in relation to the cabalistic numbers 3, 5 and 7. Once the drunk has taken this concoction, he will be free from drunkenness for the space of one month (IN–EMP)

—

Bile

Mental disorders

Its bile removes madness when it is inhaled (IN–EMP)

—

—

Liver pain

—

—

—

Aphrodisiac

—

—

—

Jaundice (unspecified)

—

—

Whole animal

Alcoholism

Those who drink wine in which eels have been drowned, develop an aversion to wine (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal, blood

Alcoholism

“This property of making wine to be hated, attributed to eel, whenever they are drowned in wine, or if its blood is added to it” (IN–EMP)

—

Fat

Otitis

Its fat cures ears (?)

—

Fat

Diseases of the ears

“Its enxundia (fat), says the book entitled The Garden of Health, is used to cure ear diseases” (?)

—

Meat

Obesity

Obesity is prevented those whose parents ate eels while they were in the womb (IN–MAG)

Talarrubias, Peloche, Herrera del Duque (Badajoz)

Blood

Alcoholism

To cure his vice [of the drunk], we must make him drink the blood of eel, without him knowing. It is thought that drunkenness is remedied by drinking eel blood (IN–EMP)

Basque Country

Whole animal

Alcoholism

There were those who introduced a whole eel into the bottle of wine for them to drink the liquid [without them knowing] (IN–EMP)

Goizueta (Navarra)

Meat

Gout

Eel brine ointments (EX–EMP)

Galicia

Meat

Gout pain

Brine of eel (EX–EMP)

Galicia

Liver

Facilitate delivery

Eating eel liver is considered optimal (IN–EMP)

Mogarraz (Salamanca)

Argyrosomus regius

Otoliths

Eye diseases and their prevention

“Piedra de corvina”… a patient had a stone as a pendant to protect him/her against the diseases of the eye (EX–MAG)

Province of Palencia

Otoliths

Sterility

“Meagre White Stones”… are considered as a remedy in the irregularities of pregnancy… hang (amulet) around the waist two white stones (EX–MAG)

Canary Islands

Otoliths

Nephropathies

“Bone amulet: stone basse” … in our field work we found that this fish amulet has preventive properties and relieve failing “kidney diseases”. We have seen people wear it as a pendant in the neck for nephritic diseases (EX–MAG)

Province of Palencia

Otoliths

Prophylaxis (in general)

This “little stone” is usually carried as a protective amulet. Although formerly many were fishermen that had just in the pocket or in a cloth bag, is now easier to see set in gold or silver as a pendant (EX–MAG)

Doñana (Andalusia)

Brama brama

Bile

Eye diseases

Its bile is used in ophthalmic drugs (IN–EMP)

—

Bile

Eye diseases

Among the types of fish, the japuta is balanced. It tends to be hot, because of its speed of movement and how much it jumps. Its bile is more useful for the eyes than that of other fish, and so doctors use it as eye drops. Eye remedies made from bile refresh the body, especially in thin people (IN–EMP)

—

Clupea harengus harengus

Meat

Worms

Cured herring … which indeed provides an adjuvant action (IN–EMP)

Basque Country

Meat

Sarcoma

A family member of my informant had a leg tumour removed that quickly returned. The diagnosis was sarcoma. In view of this, to cure of this evil it was recommended that he made use of a container used for herrings with several holes in its base. Introducing two live toads into the vessel it was closed with a lid and placed over the sarcoma, tied in position with a bandage. If the toads were still alive the day after having carried out this procedure, then the patient could be expected to recover. However, if the frogs were dead, it meant the irreversibility of the disease. In the house to which I allude, the toads died (EX–MAG)

Basque Country

Meat

To favour milk production

Eating herrings in abundance (IN–EMP)

Castillejo de Robledo (Soria)

Whole animal

For determining the sex of an unborn baby

A superstitious practice consist in put on hot coals a herring, if it jumps or flips it indicates the birth of a boy (EX–MAG)

Basque Country

Bone

For determining the sex of an unborn baby

Throwing onto a fire herring bone to see if it jumps or turns (EX–MAG)

Basque Country

Coris julis

Whole animal

Laxative

Broth: releases the bowels. The best soup is made with sea scorpions and rainbow wrasse. It should be cooked with dill, celery, coriander, leek, oil and salt (IN–EMP)

—

Crystallogobius linearis

Whole animal

Laxative

Fresh goby, if you put it into the belly of a pig, sew up well and cook in 12 sextarios [6.5 litres] of water until they are reduced to two, and then let to cool outdoors and drink it, will empty your bowels without discomfort (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Dog and snake bites

Applied as a poultice also benefits those bitten (EX–EMP)

—

Meat

Relaxing the belly

“He remembers Dioscorides saying: If you put one goby in the stomach of a dog, and sew it up then in twelve parts of water boiled until two, the cooled liquid will, relax the belly without any pain” (IN–EMP)

—

Meat

Dog and snake bites

“Applied externally it is also helpful for those who have been wounded by snake, or by dogs” (EX–EMP)

—

Cyprinus carpio

Bile

Erysipelas

An excellent remedy for erysipelas is the sweetly anointing with a feather dipped in the bile of carp… putting on top a clean, dry cloth (EX–EMP)

Canary Islands

Bone, swim bladder and other leftovers

Lumbago

Give rubs with jelly fish, obtained from cooking the bones and other debris from these fish (EX–EMP)

Doñana (Andalusia)

Dasyatis pastinaca

Sting

Scrofulous tumours

It is good to lance scrofulous tumours, so that there is no wound, with the sting of the stingray, it must be done daily until it is healed completely (EX–EMP)

—

Sting

Toothache

Scarifying the gums with the sting sooths them (EX–EMP)

—

Sting

Toothache

The sting soothes toothaches, making the teeth fall out (EX–EMP)

—

Liver

Skin diseases (lichen, exfoliative dermatitis)

Seal fat removes lichen and exfoliative dermatitis, with three óbolos of honey, a stingray liver cooked in oil and the ashes of a sea horse or dolphin applied with water. The treatment, which causes scaring, should be applied after excoriation (EX–EMP)

—

Sting

Facilitate delivery

The sting applied to the navel, if taken from a live ray the tossed back into the sea (EX–MAG)

—

Whole animal

Antidote

It is its own sting remedy, applied as ash, or another ray with vinegar (EX–EMP)

—

Sting

Toothache

“The sting in the tail of the stingray located between the scales pushed up between teeth, mitigates the pain of the teeth, making them fall” (EX–EMP)

—

Dicologoglossa cuneata

Meat

As galactagogue

It is suggested the consumption of this fish to improve breast milk production (IN–EMP)

Doñana (Andalusia)

Dipturus batis

Bile

Ear diseases

Fresh bile is very good for the ears, but also preserved in wine (IN–EMP)

—

Engraulis encrasicolus

Whole animal

Scabies

If it is introduced through cut skin, chest scabies is cured with anchovy (IN–EMP)

—

—

Bites

It is good against dog bite or sea dragon (?)

—

Meat

Low blood pressure

Eating salty foods: anchovies (IN–EMP)

La Aparecida (Alicante)

Gadus morhua

Meat

Tapeworm (infection)

Take cod and lots of water (IN–EMP)

La Aparecida (Alicante)

Liver

Nutritional anaemia

Take cod liver oil (IN–EMP)

Alba de Tormes, Cabeza de Béjar (Salamanca)

Liver

Loss of appetite (malnutrition)

As a dietary supplement, the most common and popular, … is the cod liver oil (a few tablespoons) (IN–EMP)

Villena (Alicante)

Liver

Work up an appetite

To return appetite to those who lost it cod liver oil was given (IN–EMP)

Basque Country, Navarra

Meat

Open appetite

Eaten (IN–EMP)

Guadiana del Caudillo (Badajoz)

Liver

Lack of appetite

The cod liver oil was taken as a tonic (IN–EMP)

Comarca de Campoo (Cantabria)

Liver

Rickets

Some locations underscore the importance of taking cod liver oil (IN–EMP)

Basque Country, Navarra

Liver

Food for strength

Iron and cod liver oil (IN–EMP)

La Aparecida (Alicante)

Liver

Take strength, restorative

Cod liver oil… taken as food (IN–EMP)

Fuente de Cantos (Badajoz)

Meat

Low blood pressure (hypotension)

Eating foods high in salt: cod… (IN–EMP)

La Aparecida (Alicante)

Liver

St. Vitus Dance (Sydenham chorea or chorea minor)

Cod liver oil is given to the sick (IN–EMP)

Abadiano (Biscay)

Liver

Antitussive

Cod liver oil, syrup (IN–EMP)

Eastern Catalan Pyrenees

Maxillary

Baby toothache

The “gaia” of cod (jawbone), that many children wear around their necks, is gnawed like a dummy to relive teething pain (IN–EMP)

Catalonia

Maxillary

Encourage good dentition in children

They gave the child a jawbone of cod to bite, “hueso de bacalao” (IN–EMP)

Busot (Alicante); Castillo de Villamafela (Castellón); Adamuz, Aras de Alpuente, Villar del Arzobispo (Valencia)

Tooth

Encourage good dentition in children

Use a good cod tooth with a hole made in it and hung by a ribbon around the neck, biting that tooth was a good remedy to prevent and ensure good teeth (IN–EMP)

Valencia

Jaw, fins

Encourage good dentition in children

They gave the child a jawbone of cod to bite, or the round part of the fin in dried cod (IN–EMP)

Basque Country, Navarra

Gills

Encourage good dentition in children

To relieve the pain of first teeth coming out, a cod gill was given to the child to bite (IN–EMP)

La Vall d’Uixó (Castellón)

Meat, whole animal

Stimulate the secretion of milk (galactagogue)

To ensure abundant production of milk from the breast, intake of fried cod or cod broth are empirically recommended (IN–EMP)

Basque Country

Meat

Stimulate the secretion of milk (galactagogue)

Eat salads with cod (IN–EMP)

Comarca de El Rebollar (Salamanca)

Meat

Stimulate the secretion of milk (galactagogue)

Eat this fish induces liquid intake and produces milk (IN–EMP)

Campo de Cartagena (Murcia)

Meat

Seasickness

Habit of chewing salted cod … is usual in our fishermen, at the first sign of imbalance, which even they are not immune (IN–EMP)

Basque Country

Meat

Seasickness

Taking a piece of salted cod to be taken, from time to time, a fragment is inserted into the mouth and is consumed slowly (IN–EMP)

Basque Country

Liver

Hunger (effects)

Cod liver oil (IN–EMP)

La Aparecida (Alicante)

Liver

Convalescence

Given to the sick (IN–EMP)

Abadiano (Biscay)

Galeorhinus galeus

—

Antidote

Cures those stung by stingray(?)

—

Halobatrachus didactylus

—

Antidote

Among the poisonous parts of fish is the puerco marino dorsal spine, causing great pain to those affected, the remedy is the “silt” collected from the rest of the body of this fish (?)

—

Liver

Chest infections, when it is expected to be open to having to take all the pus

Put the liver on the top of the boiler of the ship, slowly obtaining a large amount of oil of that liver, called “rat oil". Another way to obtain it is with the same operation but cooking the livers in a pot where it will melt to get rat oil. The oil is used even when healing is well under way (EX–EMP)

Galicia

Hippocampus hippocampus; H. guttulatus

Whole animal

Rabies

One roasted them and gave them to the sick so that they are taken and others mashed in vinegar and honey, and thus made into a poultice and applied to the bite wounds, and the result of this operation was that the rabies was dominated in young people, given the desire for water caused in them by the seahorses (IN/EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Urinary incontinence

Roasted and taken with food, they heal urinary incontinence (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Alopecia

Whose ashes … once burned, mixed with liquid pine resin or pig lard or marjoram perfume and applied as an ointment, it makes hair sprout on bald patches (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Dermatitis

Ash (?)

—

Whole animal

Rib pains

Roasted (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Fever

Drown seahorses in rose oil to anointing the sick with cold fevers, and placed as amulets on the sick (EX–MAG)

—

Whole animal

Antidote

It counteracts the poison of sea hare (?)

—

Skin

Scabies

Its raw skin is useful for scabies, when mixed with other medicines (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Diarrhoea

Burned alive and drunk with sweet wine, cures diarrhoea (IN–EMP)

—

Meat

Stomach pains

Dioscorides: The taste of the seahorse is good for the stomach, calms the tummy and is diaphoretic (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Alopecia

Seahorse ash burned with all the meat and oil, restores baldness (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Alopecia

“As Dioscorides said: A small marine animal, is the Hippocampo, whose ashes mixed with wet pine resin or fat, applied as an ointment, will make hair return to wherever is bald” (EX–EMP)

—

Heads

Chloasma (mask of pregnancy)

Crushed and administered with water in the form of ointment, it stops the appearance of patches (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Avoid deliveries developed

The seahorse if pregnant women wear them as charms up to the time of delivery, prevents early births, for this it is preserved in salt (EX–MAG)

—

Whole animal

Kidney stones

Crushed with thorns and drunk in wine, they remove kidney stones, sometimes given as solid food (IN–EMP)

—

Skin

Wounds

Burnt, it cleans infected wounds and stops worsening (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Poisoning

This same fish, retains the belly, for which seahorses are very good against dorycnium (poison) (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Erysipelas

Amulet: wear a seahorse (hippocampus) as a necklace (EX–MAG)

Province of Badajoz (near Sierra de Aracena)

Whole animal

Toothache

“They dried seahorses in the pocket because they say toothache cure” (EX–MAG)

Aragon

Whole animal

Toothache

Carry dried seahorses in your pocket because it is said that they cure toothache (EX–MAG)

Province of Huelva

Whole animal

Headache

—

Levantine area

Lophius piscatorius

Whole animal, heart

Dysentery

Marine frogs cooked with sea squill, so as to make pills, or their hearts macerated with honey (IN–EMP)

—

Bone

Scrofulosis

Pricking is good for scrofulous tumours, so that there is no wound, with a small tail bone of the marine fish called “frog”, it should be done daily until it is completely healed (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Tetanus

Drinking marine frog broth cooked in oil with salt. For those who have spasms we must add pepper (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Tonsils (enlargement)

Marine frog broth cooked in vinegar (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Skin conditions

Cooked in seawater. It should be cooked until it reaches the consistency of honey (IN–EMP)

—

Bile

Malignant ulcers, corrosive and rotten

… worms growing in them are removed with marine frog gall (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Stiff neck

Drinking marine frog broth cooked in oil with salt (IN–EMP)

—

Entrails

Gout and joint diseases

Oil in which marine frog bowels are cooked (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Arthritis

Fresh marine frog calms arthritis attacks, some apply the frogs opened (EX–EMP)

—

Fat

Headache

Marine frog fat poured drop by drop takes the pain away (EX–EMP)

—

Meat

Antidote

Marine frog broth cooked in wine and vinegar is drunk against poisons; … If you eat the meat it is also useful against sea hare and against snakes mentioned above also against scorpions, boiled with wine (IN–EMP)

—

Luciobarbus sclateri

Bone, swim bladder and other leftovers

Lumbago

Give rubs with jelly fish, obtained from cooking the bones and other debris from these fish (EX–EMP)

Doñana (Andalusia)

Merlangius merlangus

Bile

Ear diseases

For the ears fresh bile is very good, but also preserved in wine (IN–EMP)

—

Otoliths

Kidney stones

In the head of bacchus there are a kind of stone, which swallowed with water are very good for those who have kidney stones (IN–EMP)

—

Otoliths

Fever

Also the small stones found in the head of the asellus, during a full moon is hung in a washcloth as an amulet (EX–MAG)

—

Otoliths

Renal colic, kidney stones

Make a fine powder, and grind down crab eyes, the stones of Perches Fish, and Merlancio: Take the blood of Macho, Millet and mealybugs, and add and store for use. They are appropriate for kidney stones, for sands, for nephritic colic, and to excite the urine. Its dosage is half a scruple to a dragma (IN–EMP)

—

Merluccius merluccius

Liver

Cardiac pathologies

It is food that is considered very good for the heart, and is recommended to those with cardiac pathology… it is usually eaten fried (IN–EMP)

Basque Country

Mugil cephalus

Head

Chafing of the anus

Cured with the ash of mullet heads (EX–EMP)

—

Head

Sciatica

The ash of the head cures (EX–EMP)

—

Mullus barbatus barbatus; M. surmuletus

Whole animal

Alcoholism

The resulting drink from drowning a goatfish, … and also from marinated sea grape, causes a rejection of wine in those who drink it (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal, meat

Indigestion

Rubbed or taken in food (IN/EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Induce vomiting

Preserved, crushed and mixed with drinking (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal, head

Carbuncle

Gets rid of carbuncles rid … the ash of salting goatfish –some use only the head with honey– (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal, meat

Antidote

Against falangia (reaper), marine dragons and land scorpions. Rubbed or taken in food (IN/EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal, meat

Antidote

It cures those stung by the stingray. Rubbed in or taken in food (IN/EX–EMP)

—

Head

Antidote

The head of a fresh goatfish, reduced to ashes, serves against all poisons, especially against those of mushrooms (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Alcoholism

Those who drink wine in which a goatfish was drowned, will be averse to wine (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Alcoholism

“The greatest way to make those who get drunk reject wine is to give them the liquid in which a goatfish has been drowned” (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Alcoholism

“And causes tedium of wine to drink that wine in which they were drowned” (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Carbuncle

The ash of salted goatfish (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal (salting)

Carbuncle

Goatfish ash salt … salt with which they have been salted, cures carbuncles (EX–EMP)

—

Head

Sciatica

The ash of several goatfish heads, cures sciatica sufferers: burn in a clay pot, and use as an ointment mixed with honey (EX–EMP)

—

Meat

Menstruation problems

Helps women when menstruating (IN–EMP)

—

Head

Mushroom poisoning (toxic effect)

The fresh head ash is good against any type of poison, and particularly against fungi (IN–EMP)

—

Head

Mushroom poisoning (toxic effect)

The ash from the head against all poisons, and primarily against fungi (IN–EMP)

—

Whole animal, meat

Poisonous stings

Pliny: goatfish is good to make an ointment against stingrays, both terrestrial and sea scorpions (rockfish), dragons and falangia; also good if eaten (IN/EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Poisonous stings

“In the book entitled Hortus Sanitatis, Pliny says that: The eating of mulo fish or rubbed in, can aid against the damage caused by stingrays, terrestrial and marine scorpions, marine dragons and falangios” (IN/EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal, meat

Antidote

“Dioscorides says about these fish: mulo being eaten very frequently seems to obscure the sight. Uncooked and cut into pieces, and applied as a poultice, it cures the bites of marine dragons, and of scorpions and spiders” (EX–EMP)

—

Muraena helena

Head

Bite

Bites from moray are cured by the ash of the head of the same fish (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Leprosy

Moray ash, with three óbolos of honey (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Lichen

Moray ash, with three óbolos of honey (EX–EMP)

—

Ophisurus serpens

Whole animal

Urinary incontinence

Ophidion … a little fish similar to the conger, with iris root, and the small fish removed that it has eaten, burned, and the ashes taken with water (IN–EMP)

—

Oreochromis niloticus niloticus 

Meat

Abscesses

The salt of salted coracinos dissolves abscesses (EX–EMP)

—

Bile

Sharpen sight

The bile of coracino also sharpens of sight (IN–EMP)

—

Meat

Carbuncle

An ointment of salted coracinos reduces carbuncles (EX–EMP)

—

Meat

Antidote

Its meat … with a topical application is effective against scorpions (EX–EMP)

—

Oxynotus centrina

Liver

Heal burns

Liver oil of the “peix porquet” (EX–EMP)

Costa Brava (Gerona)

Liver

To relieve pain in case of poisonous fish bite (fish spider, scorpion fish)

Fishermen produce oil with fish liver. Heat the oil and apply it with a cloth (EX–EMP)

Costa Brava (Gerona)

Pagellus erythrinus

Meat

Laxative

If eaten erythini act as a laxative (IN–EMP)

—

Meat

Increases libido

Eat (IN–EMP)

—

Perca fluviatilis

Vertebra

Quartan fevers (malaria)

They say that carrying a perch vertebra as a charm cures fever (EX–MAG)

—

Head

Abscesses

Ash of head in brine, adding honey (EX–EMP)

—

Head

Carcinomas

Heads in brine stop carcinomas, more effective when the ashes are mixed with salt and Satureja and made into a paste with oil (EX–EMP)

—

Head

Problems uterus, expulsion of afterbirth

The ash of perch heads with salt, savory and oil cures the matrix, and in fumigation expels the afterbirth (EX–EMP)

—

Otoliths

Renal colic (kidney stones)

Make a fine powder, and grind down crab eyes, the stones of Perches Fish, and Merlancio: Take the blood of Macho, Millet and mealybugs, and add and store for use. They are appropriate for kidney stones, for sands, for nephritic colic, and to excite the urine. Its dosage is half a scruple to a dragma (IN–EMP)

—

Raja clavata; R. microocellata; R. miraletus; Leucoraja naevus

Liver

Pruritus, eczema

The liver of ray cooked in oil very effectively calms them (EX–EMP)

—

Remora remora

Whole animal

Inhibit sex drive

Applied to the genitals inhibits the loving impulse (EX–EMP)

—

Whole animal

Nesting, early delivery

Hung around the neck, they delay pregnancies with a premature tendency, and others, if kept in salt and used as an amulet, precipitates labour, and therefore are called by a different name, odynolites (EX–MAG)

—

Salmo trutta

Tail

Encourage early and proper development of language

For the correct development of language introduce into the infant’s mouth a trout tail (IN–EMP)

Sierra de Francia (Salamanca)

Sarda sarda

Antidote

Against prester (viper) bite (IN–EMP)

—

Sardina pilchardus

Heads, innards

Sore feet and blisters

Rub sore and blistered feet with the intestines and heads of salty sardines (EX–EMP)

Sierra de Segura (Albacete)

Whole animal

Forecast sex

Put a sardine to the fire, in the presence of the pregnant woman. Failure to release the scales, will mean a male, and if the scale jumps then a female. In Huesca the reverse is said (EX–MAG)

Burgos, Huesca

Bone

For determining the sex of an unborn baby

Another type of superstitious practice … put on hot coals the bone of a sardine, if it jumps or flips it indicates the birth of a boy (EX–MAG)

Basque Country

Bone

For determining the sex of an unborn baby

Throwing a sardine bone onto the fire to see if it jumps or flips (EX–MAG)

Basque Country

Bone

For determining the sex of an unborn baby

Cast on to the grill sardine bones. It was said that “if it turns, there will be son if not, a daughter”. In … [other places] it was said “if it jumps a boy if it falls a girl” (EX–MAG)

Larraun, Lekaroz, Irurita (Navarra)

Whole animal

Bloating

A cure based on the application on the stomach of a poultice made by kneading sardines in a mortar with chopped celery, adding barley flour and sprinkling it with vinegar (EX–EMP)

Villena (Alicante)

Whole animal

Fever (unspecified)

Apply to sole of the foot a salty sardine half open, and then bandaging (EX–MAG)

Benilloba (Alicante); Villores, Castillo de Villamalefa (Castellón)

Head

Chilblains

When were stale, sardine heads were baked and the resulting water was used to wash chilblains (EX–EMP)

Pandón de Lada –Langreo– (Asturias)

Head

Chilblains

Giving rubs with the head of a sardine (EX–EMP)

La Aparecida (Alicante)

Innards

Chapped hands

Cracks are rubbed with innards of salted sardines (EX–EMP)

Comarca de Los Serranos (Valencia)

Sciaena umbra

Intestines, scales

Abscesses

It dissolves them (EX–EMP)

—

Scophthalmus maximus

Whole animal

Diseases of spleen

It is good to apply them, then throw into the sea (EX–MAG)

—

Scorpaena porcus

Bile

Warts

Removes warts (EX–EMP)

—

Bile

Incipient cataracts, eye white spots

Bile with rancid oil or Attic honey. Rub on eyes three times leaving several days in between applications (IN–EMP)

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Bile

Cataracts, clouds and vision problems

Talking about this fish Dioscorides, says: The bile of marine scorpion, is helpful against cataracts, against clouds, and other weaknesses of sight (IN–EMP)

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Scorpaena scrofa

Bile

Diseases of the eye

The bile of red scorpionfish is good for cataracts, walleye, amblyopia (IN–EMP)

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Scyliorhinus canicula

Tooth

Sudden terrors

As an amulet (EX/MAG)

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Encephalon

Toothaches

It sooths by scarifying the gums (IN–EMP)

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Skin

Behaviour modification in children who cleaned the snot with the forearm

… To these children a piece of fish skin was placed in the sleeve, thus making them abandon this bad habit (EX–EMP)

Basque Country

Silurus glanis

Whole animal

Dysentery

Its brine, in sitting baths, is good to those who begin to suffer from dysentery, because it attracts out flows and as enema (IN/EX–EMP)

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Head

Erysipelas

Salted wels catfish head ash dissolved in vinegar (IN–EMP)

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Liver

Warts

Used topically (EX–EMP)

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Head

Serpiginous ulcers

The ash of the head of catfish stops serpiginous ulcers, and their excretions (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Improves voice

Fresh or salted (IN–EMP)

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Meat

Tracheitis, voice

Salted wels catfish … is not nutritious but it purifies the trachea and tempers the voice (IN–EMP)

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Meat

Belly troubles

Fresh wels catfish, eaten, is nutritious and beneficial for the stomach (IN–EMP)

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Meat

Laxative

Wels catfish in its juices releases the belly (IN–EMP)

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Whole animal

Pyoderma gangrenosum

Phagedenic ulcer is cured with rancid catfish crushed with rejalgar (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Sciatica

The brine of wels catfish, administered as enema, after evacuation (IN–EMP)

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Whole animal

Sciatica

And its brine, in a sitting bath, …, cures those affected by sciatica (EX–EMP)

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—

Facilitate delivery

It is also said that fumigation of catfish, especially if it is African make simpler deliveries (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Foreign bodies in the skin

Splinters lodged in the body are extracted with … the use of river catfish meat (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Expel thorns

Salted meat, applied as a poultice, expels splinters (EX–EMP)

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Fat

Chilblains

Cured by means application of wels catfish fat (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Metabolism

When you eat the flesh of this fish, if eaten fresh, it nourishes and slows nature. If salted less so (IN–EMP)

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Apnoea, throat

It’s useful for shallow breathing and useful for a good voice (?)

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Whole animal

Intestinal ulcers

The salting water is good for intestinal ulcers if you make a enema with it, also if the person sits on top (IN–EMP)

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—

Dandruff, oily hair

If placed as ashes on the head, it removes grease and dandruff (EX–EMP)

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Bile

Sciatica

The bile, mixed with musk, is good for sciatica (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Dysentery

“If you bathe in its brine, it is helpful at the beginning of the dysentery, because it attracts to the surface the humours that are in the belly” (EX–MAG)

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Meat

Bronchitis, clear your throat

“it also clears the tubes of the lungs and clears the throat” (IN–EMP)

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Meat

Soften the belly

“According to Dioscorides, speaking about its properties says: Freshly cooked Catfish, nourishes and softens the belly, but salted offers very little maintenance” (IN–EMP)

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Meat

Sciatica

“It heals sciatica, taken after fasting” (IN–EMP)

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Meat

Chips kneeling

“It removes swollen splinters from any part of the body” (EX–EMP)

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Solea solea

Whole animal

Splenic tumour (malignant neoplasm of spleen)

It is good to apply, then throw it into the sea (EX–MAG)

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Meat

Sick diet

According to doctors, it is a very light food for the sick, it is less phlegmatic than others … (IN–EMP)

Sparisoma cretense

Bile

Jaundice

If a sick man you give him escaro bile to eat then he will heal, as taught by experienced fishermen (IN–EMP)

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Sparus aurata

Meat

Antidote

Where there is poisonous honey produced, the remedy is to eat gilt-head bream (IN–EMP)

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Spicara maena

Head, meat

Abscesses

Ashes of mena head, and the cooked meat are applied (IN/EX–EMP)

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Head

Warts

The ash of mena head crushed with garlic (EX–EMP)

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Head

Genital warts

Ashes of the head (EX–EMP)

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Head

Serpiginous ulcers

The ash of mena head stops serpiginous ulcers, and their excretions (EX–EMP)

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Head

Tonsils

Ash of salted heads applied with honey (EX–EMP)

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Head

Anal fissures

Ashes of the head (EX–EMP)

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Head

Anal fissures

The burnt head, pulverized, removes anal cracks (EX–EMP)

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Guts

Mouth sores

The “garo” (garum) used as a mouthwash heals festering sores in the mouth (IN–EMP)

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Whole animal, head

Mouth ulcers

The brine from the mena and ash of the head heal mouth ulcers (IN–EMP)

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Whole animal

Laxative

Salted mena spread on the naval with bull bile causes the release of the belly (EX–EMP)

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Head

Nail harshness

The ash of mena heads soften the rough edges of nails (EX–EMP)

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Head

Problems uterus, expulsion of afterbirth

The ash of the heads of mena heads with salt, savory, and oil cure the matrix, and as a fumigation expel the afterbirth (IN–EMP)

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Whole animal

Mouth sores

“Its brine dries up mouth sores full of corruption, if used as mouthwash” (IN–EMP)

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Head

Anal fissures

“About this fish Dioscorides says: The ash from head of salted Menas, heals the anal cracks” (EX–EMP)

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Spicara smaris

Whole animal

Warts

Crushed and applied on warts (EX–EMP)

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Head

Scab and plantar warts

The burnt head of salted caramel reduces scab and warts … (EX–EMP)

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Head

Healing wounds and ulcers

The salted burnt head of the caramel reduces sores and stops fleshy excretion and infection (EX–EMP)

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Head

Bites and stings

The salted burnt head of the caramel… goes well against scorpion stings and dog bites (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Increase milk production

Taken with barley or cooked with fennel (IN–EMP)

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Head

Scab and plantar warts

Removes hardened scab and warts (?)

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Head

Ulcers

“The Smarido head, salted and burnt, represses the growth on the wounds and reduces those about to break out” (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Dog bites

“Its salted meat, like almost all brine, is helpful against dog bites” (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Scorpion stings

“Its salted meat, like almost all brine, is helpful against scorpion stings” (EX–EMP)

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Squalus acanthias

Whole animal

Convulsions

Crush, cook and make a poultice (EX–EMP)

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Squatina oculata; Squatina squatina

Skin

Abscesses

Applying the burnt skin (EX–EMP)

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Whole animal

Stop breast growth

The application of angelshark impedes the growth of the breasts (EX–MAG)

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Roe

Asthma

“Angelote” (Squatina squatina L.) … its roe (eggs) collected on Good Friday cure asthma (IN–MAG)

Gran Canaria (Canary Islands)

Thunnus thynnus

Head

Abscesses

Applying head ash (EX–EMP)

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Head

Genital warts

The head of salted pelamys [one year old tuna] with honey (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Toothaches

Rancid tuna, washed in a bowl and crushed is effective (IN–EMP)

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Head

Anal fissures

The head of salted pelamys [one year old tuna] with honey (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Malignant ulcers, corrosive and rotten

With pieces of stale tuna (EX–EMP)

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Blood

Depilatory

If a young man desires to be without beard for a very long time, if he smears that part with tuna blood he will remain hairless (EX–EMP)

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Whole animal

Dog bite

Apply as a poultice (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Viper bite

The so-called “salting raw” (ōmotárikhos) is preserved salted tuna meat. If taken it assists those bitten by the snake called “that which swells” (prēstêr), it is necessary to add the maximum amount of wine and to drink heavily to force them to vomit (IN–EMP)

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Meat

Antidote

Against the sea dragon (IN–EMP)

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Meat

Indigestion

“It’s also useful to provoke the vomiting of meals that bother the stomach” (IN–EMP)

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Liver

Cosmetics

Its liver, chopped and mixed with cedar oil, preserved in a lead chest, outline the eyelids (EX–EMP)

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Blood, bile, liver

Depilatory

From the blood, bile and liver of tuna, fresh or preserved, a cream is made (EX–EMP)

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Whole animal

Dog bites

Applied in poultices (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Dog bites

Useful applied against dog bites (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Snake bites (antidote)

Dioscorides: If you eat a lot of salted tuna, harm from snakebite is reduced (IN–EMP)

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Meat

Viper bites

“Salted tuna, which is called in the Greek language Omotarichos, if eaten in large quantities, cures the bites from the viper called Prester. But you should give it with a large amount of wine, and force them to vomit” (IN–EMP)

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Torpedo marmorata; Torpedo torpedo

Whole animal

Spleen diseases

It is good to apply, then throw it into the sea (EX–MAG)

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Whole animal

Laxative

Marbled electric ray in its juices releases the belly (IN–EMP)

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Whole animal

Rectal prolapse

Applied in the anus it reduces anal prolapse (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Depilatory

If its meat is subjected to a process of putrefaction in vinegar and smeared onto the chin, the effect is said to be the disappearance of hair (EX–EMP)

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Bile

Inhibits sex drive

Applied to the genitals it inhibits the sexual impulse (EX–EMP)

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Whole animal

Facilitate delivery

If you capture a marbled electric ray when the moon is in the sign of Libra and keep it for three days outdoors, then deliveries are made easy, as often as it is presented to a woman in labour (EX–MAG)

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Whole animal

Headache

Applied in cases of chronic headaches, it alleviates the severity of the pain (EX–EMP)

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Whole animal

Spleen diseases

Used as a poultice, it cures the spleen (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Digestive

Pliny, book 32: Taken as food, the marbled electric ray softens the belly (IN–EMP)

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Whole animal

Hernia

Placed on top it inhibits the illness that causes the fall of the intestine (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Headache

“…because as Galen says, it has the virtue of removing headache, placed on it, and also so says Dioscorides, that it relaxes the head” (EX–EMP)

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Trachinus draco

Bones

Toothache

Sea dragon bones soothe the gums (IN–EMP)

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Meat

Stings

The sea dragon sting is cured by directly applying its own meat (EX–EMP)

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Whole animal, brain

Antidote

Against the venom of the sting of the sea dragon the application of the fish itself is effective, or a potion made from its own brain (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Antidote

The sting is cured by applying the meat (directly) (EX–EMP)

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Whole animal

Antidote

… opened up and applied over the wound is a cure for its own sting (EX–EMP)

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Whole animal

Wound he did with his own spine

“Dioscorides says: the Marine Dragon, opened and applied, heals the wound caused by its own sting” (EX–EMP)

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Whole animal

Antidote

Pliny… Likewise, the sea dragon itself is good if it placed as a poultice against the venom of its sting, which caused the wound./Avicenna… The same author in the second book: As Galen says, the sea dragon is sliced and placed on their own bite as a cure (EX–EMP)

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Trachinus radiatus

Whole animal

Abscesses

Cooked in wine, thereby making poultices, the abscesses are dissolved (EX–EMP)

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Whole animal

Liver pain

Drowned in wine, then drank (IN–EMP)

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Bile

Scars

Applied directly removes scars (EX–EMP)

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Meat

Antidote

The sting is cured by applying the meat (EX–EMP)

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Trachurus trachurus

Liver

Mumps

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Trigla lyra

Meat

Bites, antidote

The trigla, raw, split and applied it cures the bites of sea spider, sea scorpion and spiders (EX–EMP)

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Skinned animal

Pustules

The triga skinned and placed on the pustules of the body, cures and heals them (EX–EMP)

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Whole animal

Foreign bodies deep in the body

Crushed and smeared on a site where there is an arrowhead or a thorn stuck deep in the body, it extracts them thanks to its vigorous nature and amazing properties (EX–EMP)

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Trigloporus lastoviza

Whole animal

Contact with venomous animals

If cut up and placed on a jellyfish, scorpion or spider sting, it feels good (EX–EMP)

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Uranoscopus scaber

Bile

Eye wounds

Heals scars and removes growths from the eye. No other fish has such an abundant bile (IN–EMP)

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