9 



Noddack and Noddack (19^9) made an extensive spectrographs study of the 

 various metallic elements in a number of marine animals, including starfish. In 

 general, they found greater concentrations of the heavy metals in the animals 

 than in sea water, but quantities were still on the order of one part per billion, 

 with starfish showing the smallest total concentration. Boron was the only element 

 notable in starfish, with 1 to 10 parts per million. 



The purified fat of starfish has been reported by Hinard and Fillon (1921) 

 to have a density of 0.9372, an iodine number of 132.7, a saponification number 

 of 159.1, and unsaponifiable matter content of 38.94 percent. 



In general, these data from the literature indicate that composition of com- 

 mercial meals cannot be predicted from analyses of fresh samples of raw starfish. 

 There is, apparently, a loss of about one-tenth or more of the nitrogen present. 

 This could result from a rapid breakdown to soluble products of a portion of the 

 proteins present and their loss in body fluids. Ash is likely to be considerably 

 higher in commercial meals than in laboratory dried meals. This results, in part, 

 from the inclusion of oyster shell, and many other small shellfish, as well as 

 sand and small rocks that are taken in the dredge along with starfish. This vari- 

 ability in analyses is quite evident in data obtained in the present investigation. 



MATERIAL 



The lack of drying facilities near the source of the starfish at Milford, 

 Conn., made it necessary to ship the starfish, while fresh and perishable, to the 

 College Park Laboratory, some 300 miles distant. As a result of this, the analyses 

 of the fresh starfish cannot be considered representative of the live starfish im- 

 mediately after catching. However, the data for the meals are a good approximation 

 of what might be expected of commercial meals receiving ordinary. care in trans- 

 portation and handling. 



Starfish were obtained at Milford, Conn., by dredging or were hand-picked 

 from mops through the cooperation of a commercial company and the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service Biological Laboratory at Milford. Lots of 50 to 100 pounds were shipped, 

 either in 5-gallon oyster cans or in small, tight, wooden kegs. Samples in the 

 cans were lightly iced, while cool weather alone limited decomposition of the other 

 lots. On arrival at the laboratory, a considerable volume of free liquor was found 

 J,o have separated in every case. In some lots, the starfish had undergone some 

 decomposition, though most were in good condition, bright colored, and hard. 



PREPARATION OF SAMPLES AND ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES 



Portions of the liquor on several of the earlier lots were tested for total 

 solids, salt, ash, and organic material. These data are reported in Table 2. The 



l_/Total chlorine calculated to sodium chloride 



content of total solids was found to be about 4 percent, of which about 60 percent 

 was inorganic (ash). Sodium chloride calculated from chlorine content constituted 

 approximately 75 percent of the ash. Because of the inadequacy of the available 



