Chemical Composition of Sardine, Sardinia melanosticta (C. & V.) from Tyôsen

I. Comparative Study on Dark Muscle and White Muscle

Abstract

The quantity of the dark muscle of sardine from Tyôsen amounts to 48% of the body weight and 31•1% of the white muscle, the average value being obtained by 10 samples. Table 2 shows that the dark muscle is richer in crude fat, sulfur, iron but poorer in total nitrogen than the white muscle. Muscle plasma of the dark muscle contains the proteins coagulable at 40°, at 50°, and at 70° in descending order. But this order is just reversed in the white muscle. Table 4 gives nitrogen distribution in the muscle protein which was first treated with water, alcohol and ether, and afterwards powdered. It is to be seen in this table that the dark mus-cle protein is richer in histidine but poorer in lysine than the white muscle protein. Ether extracts of dark muscle as shown in table 5, contain more fatty acid but less non-saponifible matter and choles erol than those of white muscle.