The Rates of the Decomposition of Fish Muscle by Various Kinds of Bacteria

Abstract

The bacteriological studies on the decomposition of fish muscle have hitherto dealt with the kinds of bacteria present in decomposed material or with the decomposition of fish muscle exposed to air. But, little is known as to the process of the decomposition of fish muscle by the purely cultured bacteria, or as to the differential activities of respective kinds of microorganisms upon the material in question. Therefore I studied the rates of the decom-position of fish muscle by such water bacteria as are particularly concerned with the fish-muscle decomposition, and also Proteus vulgaris and Staphylococ-cus aurcus. Moreover, I studied the growth rates of bacteria in the fish muscle medium.