A CHEMICAL STUDY OF FOOD FISHES. 
THE ANALYSIS OF TWENTY COMMON FOOD FISHES WITH ES- 
PECIAL REFERENCE TO A SEASONAL VARIATION 
IN COMPOSITION. 
By ERNEST D. CLARK anp LLOYD H. ALMY. 
(From the Food Research Laboratory, Bureau of Chemistry, United States 
Depariment of Agriculture, Philadelphia.) 
(Received for publication, December 11, 1917.) 
That a variation in the composition of fish might occur was recognized 
by Atwater (1) who analyzed fifty-two species, sometimes basing his re- 
sults on a single specimen, again taking the average of several samples 
caught at short intervals. Nine species were examined at different seasons 
of the year. Of these only three species—blackfish, mackerel, and salmon 
—showed a definite tendency toward a seasonal variation in composition. 
A study of the recorded analyses of fish makes it plain that a single 
examination, even if based on large numbers of individuals, cannot be ac- 
cepted as representing a typical composition. For example, the herring 
shows a wide latitude in its gross composition, as may be seen from 
Table I, where the moist fish ranges from 19.29 to 30.97 per cent of solids, 
and from 2.41 to 11.01 per cent of fat. This variation in the composition 
TABLE I. 
The Percentage Composition of Herring, as Determined by Various 
Investigators. 
2 
a gi 
Fish. Author. C 3 ag 0 
ap Elen RR Wade arenes 
Sad pteosied [ea (ae bg Z 
————— | ————q“—| | ———q§—| | e— |. | —_____. 
per per per per per per 
cent cent | cent cent cent cent 
Fresh herring. (See Table IV). 77 .10/22.90} 2.41} 1.66/18.83} 3.03 
bd i Kostytscheff (3). |76.11/23.89| 4.89] 1.71) — — 
Tittle. “ Almen (4). 73 .22|26.75| 5.87] 1.65/18.83) 3.01 
Herring. Buckland (5). 80.71|19.29) 7.11) 2.07) — a 
Smoked herring. Konig (6). 69.49/80.51) 8.51} 1.24/21.12) 3.38 
Fresh Hh Payen (7). 70.00)30.00}10.30} 1.90} — | — 
! Atwater (1). 69 .03/80.97|11.01} 1.50)19.12) 3.06 
483 
