THE CONCENTRATIONS OF PROTEASES, AMYLASE, AND LIPASE IN CERTAIN MARINE FISHES

Abstract

Fishes were selected as representatives of diverse specializations, e.g., general activity, food and feeding habits, rate and type of metabolism, presence or absence of pyloric caeca, and morphological organization of the pancreas. Digestive enzymes parallelled, in quantity, the general activity of the fish; this was especially true of trypsin, but not of pepsin. Lipase is the least in the fishes which store large amounts of fat. The compact pancreas is the center of enzyme production, while the diffuse pancreas produces only a small portion of the enzymes poured into the enteron. When the pancreas is not highly organized, the pyloric caeca seem partially to supplant it in enzyme secretion. The activity of fish amylase is at an optimum at 35[degree] C, NaCl 0.05 M, and pH 7.2 (held by 0.05 M phosphate buffer) when the digestion period is 30 min.