Biochemical Identification of Two Gempylid Fishes Causative of a Food Poisoning

Abstract

Attempts were made to identify biochemically two gempylid fishes, escolar (“aburasokomutsu”) Lepidocybium flavobrunneum and castor oil fish (“baramutsu”) Ruvettus pretiosus, whose muscles contain a large amount of wax esters and hence may cause a food poisoning when ingested. Myogen fractions were prepared from the ordinary muscles of both fishes as well as various fishes, and subjected to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, followed by staining with Coomassie brilliant blue for protein and with reagents for lactate and malate dehydrogenase activities. Results showed that the protein pattern is species-specific enough to distinguish the two gempylid fishes from any of the other fishes tested. The pattern of either dehydrogenase was found to be less species-specific. However, simultaneous analyses of MDH and protein patterns faciliated the identification of both gempylid fishes. Cellulose acetate membrane electrophoresis was also found to be applicable for this purpose, though less satisfactorily. © 1984, The Japanese Society of Fisheries Science. All rights reserved.