THE AUTOLYSIS OF MUSCLE OF HIGHLY ACTIVE AND LESS ACTIVE FISH

¹ From the Laboratories of Physiological Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole

1. All fish muscles examined show the typical pattern of catheptic activity characteristic of such mammalian tissues as liver, kidney, spleen and muscle.

2. Muscles of the relatively sluggish fish such as carp, gar, dogfish and cod autolyze slowly and to a relatively small extent in the ten-day period of the experiments.

3. Muscle from the game fish mackerel, albacore, bonita and sword-fish autolyze much more rapidly and completely in the same time, and under the same conditions.

4. A correlation appears to exist between the normal functional activity of the muscles and the speed and extent to which they digest. This represents we believe a mechanism for maintenance of activity through mobilization of tissue proteins during periods of food scarcity.

5. The data suggest that muscle proteins of the active species are more readily fragmented by the enzymes present than are the proteins of less active species.