Abstract
IN the course of an investigation of the vitamin contents of different organs of the tunny (Thunnus thynnus) caught off the coast of Norway, very high values were found for pantothenic acid in the ovaries, up to 245 µgm. per gm. of fresh tissue1. The tunny spawns in the Mediterranean and nearby waters in June and early July, whereupon shoals of the fish move in search for food and arrive off the coast of Norway in July–October. At this time the ovaries are small and in the first stages of a new reproductive cycle. Earlier observations in ovaries (hard roes) from different species of fish had indicated differences in the pantothenic acid content in relation to their degree of ‘ripening’, the values being lowest at the time of spawning. The findings in the ovaries from the tunny indicated a relation between the pantothenic acid in the ovaries and the sexual cycle of the fish. As cod (Gadus morrhua) of all sizes are brought alive to the fish market in Bergen all the year round, it was chosen as a suitable species for the further investigations.
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References
Brækkan, O. R., “Reports on Technological Research concerning Norwegian Fish Industry”, 3, No. 3 (in the press).
Sivertsen, E., “Report on Norwegian Fishery and Marine Investigation”, 4, No. 10 (1935); 5, No. 3 (1937).
Pearson, P. B., and Burgin, C. J., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med., 48, 415 (1941).
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BRÆKKAN, O. Role of Pantothenic Acid in the Reproductive Cycle of Ovaries in Fish. Nature 176, 598 (1955). https://doi.org/10.1038/176598a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/176598a0
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