Keriorrhoea--the passage of oil per rectum--after ingestion of marine wax esters
Berman, P.; Harley, E.H.; Spark, A.A.
South African Medical Journal 59(22): 791-792
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0256-9574 PMID: 7195080 Document Number: 174696
Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, a marine fish of the snake mackerel family, is sometimes sold under the category of butterfish. Ingestion of this fish was followed by the passage of oil per rectum. The fish contained 23% by weight of lipid, and analysis of this and of the oil passed per rectum showed that it consisted of wax esters. The high proportion of wax esters in the flesh of the fish, their resistance to digestive enzymes and their low melting point resulted in pooling in the rectum of significant volumes of oil, the lubricant quality of which caused frequent calls to stool. The symptomatology was therefore characteristic, but with the quantities normally ingested the condition appeared to be harmless, despite reports of toxic effects in experimental animals.