[HARRISON & KENNEDY] DISCOLOURATION OF CODFISH 147 



Experiments with Turks Islands Brines. — Six samples of brine 

 from the various reservoirs belonging to a salt manufacturer in Turks 

 Islands were received one month after the date of shipment. 



Several cubic centimetres from each sample of brine were added 

 to 16 per cent, salt codfish agar slopes, to sterilized salt codfish to 

 16 per cent., 25 per cent, and 35 per cent, salt codfish broth, and all 

 were incubated at 37° C. for three weeks, with the following results: — 



1. 10% salinity (sea water) — No red colour. 



2. 40% " — No red colour, but organism producing Isabellinus 



and yellow colours present. 



3. 50% " - — No red colour, but yellow colour present. 



4. 65% " —Red on fish. 



5. 80% " —Red colour on all the media. 



6. 100-110% salinity (crystallizing point) — ^Red on fish and broth. 



Pieces of fresh cod were suspended in six flasks containing about 

 one hundred cubic centimetres of each percentage of brine, incubated 

 at 37° C. for ten days. Pink colour developed only on the fish in 

 brine of 100-110 per cent, salinity, or crystallizing point. In the 

 flasks containing 10 per cent, salinity, or sea water, the fish was 

 completely digested. 



In flasks containing about one hundred cubic centimetres of 

 these brines, a few pieces of Irish Moss {Chondrus crispus) were added 

 and gypsum blocks were arranged so that they were half in and half 

 out of the liquid. After incubation at 37° C. for ten days red colour 

 developed in all flasks, including the one containing 10 per cent, 

 salinity or sea water. There was a deep red ring on the gypsum 

 block just above the surface of the liquid, and in some flasks the 

 colour was in specks more or less over the entire surface of the block. 

 Even more marked than the growth on the gypsum block was that 

 on the Irish Moss; it was so pronounced that the moss itself looked 

 distinctly red. On the surface of the liquid a red scum developed. 

 Also the liquid itself became red, and increased in intensity with 

 prolonged incubation. 



The Irish Moss used had been in an unopened package for 

 sixteen years, but a control, made by adding pieces of the moss to 

 sterilized salt solutions, gave negative results, the brine remaining 

 quite clear. 



Microscopical examinations of the reddened flasks showed the 

 presence of the red organism Pseudomonas salinaria. 



These experiments prove what already was adumbrated by the 

 experiments with Irish Moss and brine inoculated with the red 



