MAINE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 29 



Table 9. — Composition of pickle formed during transportation offish in salt. 



Time of 

 forming 

 pickle. 



Description. 



Weight. 



Specific 



gravity. 



Salt 

 (NaCl). 



Nitrogen. 



Hours. 

 2 

 4 



Very light, slight yellow color, clear 



Light in color, with slight reddish tinge, 



Pounds. 

 29.5 



22.5 

 9.0 

 4.5 



4.21 

 11.0 



Grams. 

 13,409 



10, 227 

 4,090 

 2,045 



1,912 

 5,000 



1.155 



1. 145 

 1.140 

 1.140 



1.130 

 1.110 



Per cent. 

 19.93 



18.55 

 17.68 

 17.14 



15.86 

 12.44 



Per cen'. 

 0.072 



.134 



6 



8 



Slightly reddish in color, slightly cloudy . 



.178 

 .206 



12 



Reddish, more cloudy than that held 8 



.245 



25 



... do 



.330 









Attention is directed to the decrease in the specific gravity and 

 corresponding decrease in the percentage amount of salt, and to the 

 increase in the percentage of nitrogen during each succeeding interval 

 that the fish remained in salt. 



At the end of the 2 hours required for the run to the laboratory 

 all the fish had "struck," and at the end of the 4- to 6-hour 

 period, they had begun to show the effects of salting, although still 

 in fair condition. At the end of the 8-hour period they were 

 hard and firm, and some showed the thin, pressed appearance charac- 

 teristic of fish which have been carried too long in salt. The bellies 

 of very few were broken at the end of 8 hours. Compared with 

 the standard for quality obtaining at the time these experiments 

 were made, they would at this period have been considered good fish 

 for packing. The same can be said for them at the end of the 10- 

 hour period, except that the shrunken and shriveled appearance had 

 become more pronounced. 



While the determination of total volatile nitrogen (ammonia and 

 amines) is not a true criterion upon which to base decomposition 

 changes taking place in the flesh of fish carried in salt, since the 

 decomposition products formed, particularly ammonia and amine, 

 pass into the brine, it is none the less interesting to note that the 

 volatile nitrogen content of the flesh gradually diminished during the 

 time the fish were in salt, up to and including the 12-hour period, 

 rising noticeably after the fish had been held for 25 hours and again 

 at the end of 50 hours. At the end of the 4-hour period the 

 amount of ammoniacal materials in the viscera and contents of the 

 fish carried in salt had increased appreciably. 



In contrasting this experiment with the preceding experiment it 

 is apparent that the viscera and contents of this lot decomposed a 

 little more rapidly than those of the fish carried without salt. While 

 this may be due, in part at least, to the difference in the quantity or 

 quality of the food in the intestines of the fish comprising these lots, 

 it serves to show that the salting of fish does not prevent deteriora- 

 tion during transportation to the extent generally supposed. In an 

 investigation on the conservation of fish and meat products with 



