SEA MUSSELS AND DOGFISH AS FOOD. 
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By IRVING A. FIELD, 
U.S. Fisheries Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass. 
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Of the two sources of human food, the possibilities of the land have been 
extensively studied while those of the ocean have been greatly neglected. Only 
a few observations are necessary to show how in ignorance and prejudice we have 
been overlooking and rejecting enormous quantities of valuable food material 
which are daily going to waste. With our rapidly increasing population the 
capacity of the soil to produce enough food is gradually approaching’its limit. 
The resources of the sea, on the other hand, are practically unlimited. It is 
there our opportunities lie for meeting the increased demand for food which can 
be supplied at prices suitable to the laboring man’s purse. 
For the past three summers I have been employed by the Bureau of Fisher- 
ies to investigate the food value of certain hitherto unused marine animals. Of 
the forms studied I wish to speak to-day concerning the sea mussel and the 
smooth and the horned dogfishes. 
A food substance to be considered a good marketable commodity must 
measure up well to four standards: It must be palatable, digestible, nutritious, 
and so abundant that it can be marketed at little cost. 
To determine the palatability of the substances I was concerned with, the 
obvious method was for me to eat the substance and if no ill results followed 
persuade others to eat it, then average opinions in regard to it. The scientific 
staff of the Woods Hole Laboratory gave me first opinions in these tests. If 
they found the flavor good, I had the dish served on mess tables of the Marine 
Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole and to other persons interested enough 
to try it. 
The second test, digestibility, involves several requirements—namely, the 
proportion of the substance that can be digested, the ease or rapidity with which 
it can be digested, and the manner in which the food is accepted by the stomach. 
Comparatively little is known concerning the relative rapidity of digestion 
of different foods within the body. Most of the current statements on the 
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