6 BULLETIN 649, V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



BOSTON MACKEREL. 



The investigations reported in this paper, which form a part of 

 an extended study of the digestibility, nutritive value, and uses in 

 the home of fish and fish products, have to do particularly with the 

 digestibility of protein. One of the varieties of fish, Boston mack- 

 erel, here studied in comparison with other sorts of fish, has, however, 

 been considered from the standpoint of the relative digestibility of 

 animal fats of different kinds in an earlier bulletin. 1 



Boston mackerel (Scomber scombrus, Linnaeus) is a highly fla- 

 vored fish, which can be compared to moderately fat meat in food 

 value, since it supplies good amounts of both protein and fat. This 

 fish, which is found throughout the north Atlantic, spends the winter 

 months in deep water; in the spring, schools rise to the surface and 

 approach the land. This fish forms one of the chief products of 

 the New England fisheries, the catch during the year 1916 amounting 

 to approximately 16,000,000 pounds. The fish used in this inves- 

 tigation were purchased at a local market and weighed, after clean- 

 ing, approximately 3 pounds each. They were procured at the 

 height of the season, were in prime condition, and when prepared 

 in the form of a fish loaf made a most appetizing dish. While the 

 Boston mackerel possesses a characteristic flavor which is quite 

 pronounced in the boiled or fried fish, this flavor was not evident in 

 the fish loaf. 



Three subjects living under normal conditions, who had acquired 

 considerable experience in work of this kind in connection with the 

 determination of the digestibility of some of the common edible fats 

 of animal and vegetable origin, assisted in this study. The results 

 which were obtained in the three-day test period follow. 



» U.S.Dept.Agr.Bul.507 (1917), p. 16. 



