26 BULLETIN 908, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
lots of fish which contained feed when taken from the water showed, 
on reaching the canneries, an actual loss of 85 per cent due to belly- 
blown fish. A 25 to 50 per cent loss is not uncommon when feedy fish 
are taken. It is impossible to mistake the characteristic appearance 
of belly-blown feedy fish before or after packing. 
TRANSPORTATION OF THE FISH. 
A series of experiments were made to determine, both by chemical 
analysis and physical examination, the rate at which the fish decom- 
pose during transportation and their fitness for packing after being 
transported under different conditions. As a measure of the decom- 
position the total volatile nitrogen (ammonia and amines) was the 
only determination made. 
The fish were carried in the hold of a small sardine boat, in a large 
hogshead, approximately 34 feet at its greatest diameter by 4 feet — 
deep, provided with a wire screen to serve as a well, extending from 
the top to the bottom, through which the water and pickle could be 
pumped. Samples were taken as the fish were removed from the 
water and at 2- to 4-hour intervals thereafter, up to 24 and 30 
hours. In one case samples of fish which had stood for 50 hours were 
examined. The samples that were taken during transit were placed 
in screw-cap Mason jars, which were kept in a mixture of salt and ice. 
They were frozen by this method, and were thus preserved until 
analyzed. At the laboratory the fish were cut and eviscerated, and 
samples made of the flesh and of the intestines and contents. A 
separate analysis was made of each. 
FisH CARRIED IN BuLK WitTHovT SALT. 
Two lots were studied to determine the effect of transporting the 
fish in bulk without salt. The water dipped up with them was not 
drained off from the first lot. It was, however, pumped off from the 
second lot shortly after placing the fish in the hogshead, and at regular 
intervals thereafter. Five tubs of small fish, 4 to 5 inches in length 
and weighing 625 pounds net,* composed the first lot. 
The first four samples (Table 10), which were taken at 2-hour 
intervals, represent conditions while in transit, whereas the sample 
taken at the end of 20 hours represents conditions while the fish were 
lying at the wharf overnight. The temperature of the fish in the 
middle of the hogshead at the time the 20-hour sample was taken 
was 54° F. The fish of this lot seemed to be in good condition when 
landed after the 5-hour run. At the end of 20 hours they had begun 
ordinary practice of loading the boats at weirs, the water does not completely drain from each tub of fish. 
The only drainage is through a number of half-inch holes in the measuring tubs while the tub is being filled. 
