IIJTSRHEDIARY METABOLISM OF FISHES AND OTHER AQUATIC ANIMALS 



1/ 2/ 3/ 



by M. Gumbmanr. , W. Duane Drown—* , and A. L. Tappel— ' 



INTRODUCTION 



A sizable body of knowledge dealing with composition and physiology 

 of fishes and other aquatic animals is available. There have been but 

 few studies, however, of intermediary metabolism in these organisms. 

 This paper is a review of the studies that have appeared in the litera- 

 ture. 



Physiology end composition are discussed where their relationship 

 to intermediary metabolism is indicated. The major differences in compo- 

 sition that distinguish aquatic animals from land animals is pointed out, 

 since such differences suggest deviations in metabolic routes and path- 

 ways . 



The animals discussed are limited to fish (teleosts and elasmo- 

 branchs), shellfish (mollusks and crustaceans), sea urchin, and aquatic 

 mammals (dolphins and whales). Metabolic studies of the sea urchin have 

 been included because of the large amount of study given this animal 

 and because the metabolism of the sea urchin appears to resemble that 

 of other marine invertebrates more closely than it does that of higher 

 marine forms. The review is organized around the major well-known meta- 

 bolic divisions: carbohydrate metabolism, including the Embden-Meyerhof 

 pathway, the phenomenon of rigor mortis, and the hexosemonophosphate 

 shunt; respiratory metabolism and the tricarboxylic acid cycle; electron- 

 transport systems of terminal oxidation, including various cof actors; 



Note . — This study was supported in part by funds made available 

 through the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act and administered by means of a 

 collaborative agreement between the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 and the University of California. 



1/ Research Assistant, Department of Food Technology, University of 

 California, Davis, California. 



2/ Chemist, U. 3. Fish and Wildlife Service. 



3/ Associate Professor, Department of Food Technology, University 

 of California, Davis, California. 



