XLIV -ON THE NATURE OF THE PECULIAR REDDENING OF 

 SALTED CODFISH DURING THE SUMMER SEASON.* 



By W. G. Farlow, M. D. 



Prof. S. F. Baied: 



Dear Sir : At your request, I have made an examiuation of codfish 

 for the purijose of ascertainiug the cause of the peculiar redness which 

 is found on the dried fish during the hot and damp weather of summer. 

 The red fish, as is well known, putrefy comparatively quickly, and this 

 fact, taken in connection with the disagreeable, and, in fishes, unusual 

 color, renders them unfit for the market, so that, in seasons when the 

 redness prevails, dealers suffer a loss which is certainly considerable, 

 although exact statistics with regard to the amount are wanting. 



For the purpose of examining fresh material, and in order to make a 

 personal inspection of the drying apparatus and storehouses, I went to 

 Gloucester in the beginning of September, 1878, at which date the 

 weather was hot and damj), and the codfish then being prepared for 

 market were largely aff'ected by the redness, the cause of which it was 

 my object to discov^er. With the assistance of Captain Martin, of the 

 United States Fish Commission, 1 was able not only to procure an abun- 

 dance of the red fish for study, but also to examine several difierent 

 buildings used in salting and packiug fish, as well as a schooner which 

 had just returned from a voyage to the banks. 



Before speaking of the immediate cause of the redness, I may say 

 that all persons of whom I made inquiry agreed in stating that the red- 

 ness makes its appearance to such an extent as to be troublesome only 

 during the hot weather, and that it disappears with the return of cool 

 weather. I ascertained farther that the redness in most cases does not 

 appear until the fish have been landed from the vessel. In some cases, 

 however, the fish become red while in the vessel, but this hapjjens only 

 when the weather has been unusually hot at the time of catching. 



A microscopic examination shows that the redness is owing to a very 

 minute plant, known to botanists by the name of Clathrocystis roseo- 

 persicina. The plant consists simply of very minute cells filled with red 

 coloring-matter and imbedded in a mass of slime. The cells, as usually 

 seen, are arranged without order, but under the most favorable coufli- 

 tions of observation they are found to be grouped in spheroidal 

 masses. In relation to the botanical characteristics of the plant noth- 

 ing more need be said in the present connection. Its development has 

 been studied by several well-known botanists, who agree in considering 



* As observed more particularly at Gloucester, Mass., during the summer of 1878. 



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