Nerve sheath tumors in an isolated goldfish population.

INTRODUCTION During the past 6 years studies have been car ried out on the morphology, growth, and possible etiology of nerve sheath tumors observed in gold fish, Carassius auratus. The fish were all inhabit ants of a large lagoon in the city of Cleveland.1 The tumors were neurilemomas and neurofibromas; in seven instances they were histologically malignant. The question of the neoplastic char acter of the melanophores found in several deeply pigmented tumors will be considered. After an account of the fish and their environ ment, the morphology of the tumors will be de scribed, followed by data on transplantation and transmission experiments which were carried out. The possible relation of the tumors and certain abnormalities in the fish to constitutional factors, and the similarity of the lesions to those encoun tered in von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis