76 PACIFIC COD FISHERIES, 
Codfish and some other salt-cured fish are subject to spoilage when 
exposed to a temperature above 65° F. The spoilage is manifested 
by the surface of the fish turning red and emitting a foul odor. This 
is an old complaint on both coasts and in Europe, and has been in- 
creasingly expensive on the Atlantic coast, as the expansion of the 
industry has necessitated the marketing of greater and greater 
quantities of fish during the warm months of the year. It appears 
only on the dry-salted fish, as fish completely submerged in pickle 
seems to be immune go long as it is retained there. 
The first sign of redness appears when the dried fish are stored on 
the ground floor and before the skinning and packing are done, but 
frequently it may not appear until many days after the fish has been 
packed and shipped. 
Reddening is essentially a surface infection. Except as it follows 
fissures in the muscles, cuts, or breaks where the air has free access, 
it does not appear below the surface. On the whole fish, the favorite 
point of attack is near the backbone, and this is due to the greater 
thickness of flesh, which insures more moisture at all times. It is 
more often found upon the outside of the bricks or tablets. 
Sometimes the affected fish is of a pale, pink color, at other times 
a bright red. Experiments have disclosed that the pink is caused 
by the germs being in a thin layer on very moist fish; the more intense 
color appears when the fish is drier and the germs form thicker 
spots or a series of colonies. In the latter stage the germs have a 
moister and more oily appearance, although both conditions may 
appear on the same fish. The redness may occur on either the skin 
or the flesh, or both, but is not so readily seen nor developed on the 
skin. So far as known, the infection occurs on the salted fish only, 
but as the germs have been found in water used to wash the fresh 
fish, it is possible they would develop on fresh fish should they be 
kept sufficiently long for the color to appear. As cod are not mar- 
keted in a fresh condition on the Pacific coast, this possibility does 
not concern our fishermen. 
Cold checks the growth of the organisms causing the reddening, 
and in addition it also has the effect of bleaching the color which may 
be present. 
This reddening of cod has been studied by a number of scientists. 
As yet the source of infection causing the red discoloration has not 
“On the nature of the peculiar reddening of salted codfish during the summer season, by 
W.G. Farlow. United States Fish Commission Report for 1878, p. 969-974. (1880.) 
Vegetable parasites of codfish, by W. G. Farlow. Bulletin United States Fish Com- 
mission, 1886, p. 1-4, 2 fig. (1887.) 
Observations on the red flesh of the codfish, by A. Layet. Bulletin United States Fish 
Commission, 1887, vol. 7, p. 90-95. (1889.) 
Preparation of the cod and other salt fish for the market, including a bacteriological study 
of the causes of reddening, by A. W. Bitting. United States Department of Agriculture, 
Bureau of Chemistry. Bulletin no. 138, 63 p., ill. (1911.) 
Edington: Report of the Fisheries Board of Scotland, 1887. 
Jordan : Massachusetts State Board of Health Report, 1890, vol. 2. 
