[19] 



NUTRITIVE VALUE OF FISH AND INVERTEBRATES. 



451 



4. Fish whose Jiesh coritained less than 2 per cent, of fat {very lean). — 

 Smelt, red snapper, pike i)erch,^ pickerel,^ cod, kingfish, liake, sea 

 bass, flounder,^ skate, pollock, flouuder, red bass, haddock, blackfisb, 

 yellow pereb, grouper, toDicod, cusk. Composition of flesh : Water, 76 

 to 84 per cent.: water-free substance (nutrients), 16 to 24 per ceut; 

 protein, 14 to 22 per cent. ; fats, to 2 per cent.j ash, 0.9 to 1.7 per 

 cent. 



"foul" or "spent" fish vs. those in good condition. 



The figures for salmon are very interesting in this connection. Nos. 

 279 and 280 were Penobscot Eiver salmon in nearly their best condition. 

 Nos. 35 and 36 were from the same source, but " spent, " i. e., taken just 

 after spawning. The spent fish had not only less fat, but less protein 

 than the fat fish, the spent fish averaging 18, and the fat fish, 24.2 per 

 cent.' of protein. How generally such differences would obtain, I can- 

 not say. The fact that No. 14, which was also said to be from Maine 

 (though whether it was from the Penobscot or not was not stated), had 

 only 19 per cent, of protein, about the same as the spent salmon, would 

 imply that the difference between the protein of the fat and the spent 

 fish may not always be as great as in these specimens from the Peuob- 

 scot. Nevertheless the difference is very striking. The very elaborate 

 research of Professor Miescher upon the Ehine salmon* has many inter- 

 esting facts bearing upon this subject, but no analyses exactly comi^ara- 

 ble with those above cited. The four specimens of Penobscot salmon, 

 two taken in season and fat and two just after spawning and "spent," 

 were furnished through the courtesy of Mr. Charles G. Atkins, of Bucks- 

 port, from the Government hatcheries, for the especial purpose of com- 

 paring their composition. The analyses from Tables III and V (those 

 of whole fish from a table not given in this article) are as follows: 



Composition of flesh of fat and spent salmon. 



• Both S. vitr. and S. can. * Both E. luc. and H. ret. 



' Both Pseudopl. am. and Paral. dent. 



*Zur Lebensgeschichte des Bheinlaehses im Bhein. (Aus der sclnveitzerischen Litteratur- 

 sammlung zur internationalen F'lscherei-A ussteUung in Berlin. ) Translated and reprinted 

 in the Report of the U. S. Fish Commission of Fish and FisherieSj for 1880, 



