A UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE PUBLICATION U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE Occurrence of Thiaminase in Some Common Aquatic Animals of the United States and Canada 1971 SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC REPORT-FISHERIES Na 631 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Maurice H. Stans, Secretary NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION Dr. Robert M. White, Administrator NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE Philip M. Roedel, Director Occurrence of Thiaminase in Some Common Aquatic Animals of the United States and Canada By R. A. GREIG and R. H. GNAEDINGER Special Scientific Report — Fisheries No. 631 Seattle, Washington July 1971 CONTENTS Page Introduction 1 Explanation of the tables 2 Discussion 2 Literature cited 3 TABLES 1. Thiaminase presence in freshwater animals 4 2. Thiaminase presence in marine animals 6 in Occurrence of Thiaminase in Some Common Aquatic Animals of the United States and Canada By R. A. GREIG National Marine Fisheries Service Technological Laboratory, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48107 and R. H. GNAEDINGER Pet Food Nutritional Research, Ralston-Purina Company, Checkerboard Square, St. Louis, Missouri 63199 ABSTRACT Two tables are presented that survey the presence or absence of thiaminase in freshwater and marine fish and shellfish. INTRODUCTION The presence of thiaminase in fish that are routinely used raw in rations for animals can cause a dietary deficiency. The disease in mink is commonly called Chastek paralysis (Green, Evans, and Carlson, 1937). Knowledge about the presence or absence of thiaminase in aquatic animals is therefore important to mink ranch- ers and other animal feeders, scientific re- searchers, commercial fish vendors, and others. Thiaminase is an enzyme that destroys thiamine (vitamin Bi) and, like many enzymes, its activity is greatly reduced or destroyed up- on heating to moderate temperatures (50°- 100° C). Thus, mink ranchers, for example, can cook the fish before feeding it to the animals to avoid a Chastek paralysis problem (Lee, 1948; Gnaedinger and Krzeczkowski, 1966). However, mink ranchers generally prefer to avoid cooking the fish because mink show a preference for raw fish and cooking adds to the operational costs. Knowledge whether fish do or do not contain thiaminase is therefore vitally important to animal feeders, particu- larly mink ranchers, for safety and economic reasons. Also, scientific researchers at times need to consider whether or not an aquatic animal involved in their research contains thiaminase. For example, in biological research where fishes are held in aquaria for feeding studies or other research, the presence of thiaminase in the animals being fed to the fish could pos- sibly cause a vitamin deficiency or other prob- lems that could impede the research (Wolf, 1942). Many species of aquatic organisms have been assayed for thiaminase activity in various lab- oratories throughout the world. Most of these assays, however, were made in conjunction with specific research programs that were de- signed to study a particular species native to the area of the research laboratory. As a re- sult, the data on the occurrence of thiaminase in aquatic specimens is scattered throughout various research papers published over the years. Deutsch and Hasler (1943) and Neilands (1947) determined the thiaminase activity of a great number of freshwater and aquatic an- imals. A number of important fishes and shell- fish, however, were not examined by these researchers but were investigated by several other researchers. The purpose of this report, therefore, is to combine the listings of thiami- nase activity in aquatic animals that have ap- peared in the literature and also some recent unpublished work at this laboratory into a comprehensive list of aquatic animals that have been assayed for thiaminase activity. Explanation of the Tables The list is presented in two tables: Table 1 presents the information for freshwater ani- mals, and Table 2 presents the information for marine animals. The animals are listed alpha- betically by common name. The scientific name is also shown for each animal; the names were taken from the publication (s) cited. The sci- entific names relating to the unpublished data of this laboratory are from the list published by the American Fisheries Society (1960). The part of the animal that was analyzed for thiaminase is also shown in the tables. Whether the whole animal or, for example, just the viscera was analyzed is important; this point will be further discussed later. Where the source of the animal was given in the ori- ginal reference, this information is also given in the tables. DISCUSSION In most cases, the whole animal was analyzed for the data presented in Tables 1 and 2. How- ever, for some of the animals, only the viscera or flesh was analyzed. Thiaminase apparently concentrates in the viscera more than in any other part of the animal (Lee, 1948). Some researchers have found thiaminase to be pi-esent in the viscera of some aquatic animals but not in the flesh of that same animal. For example, Neilands (1947) found that viscera of lobster contained thiaminase, but the muscle did not. In over 30 marine and freshwater animals studied by Neilands, however, the lobster proved the only example of such a relationship. In other experiments by Neilands (1947) and by Stout, Oldfield, and Adair (1963), the ob- servation was made that fish (yellow perch, white perch, and hake in these experiments) generally considered to be thiaminase-free could be found to contain thiaminase activity if the fish was captured at a time when the animal it fed on was not completely digested and this animal itself contained thiaminase. These findings are significant for several reasons: (1) It is possible that some of the animals listed in Tables 1 and 2 were found to contain thiaminase because they were caught at a time when their stomachs contained un- digested, thiaminase-containing feed. Also, the opposite could be true; that is, those species listed as not containing thiaminase could at times be found to contain thiaminase activity if captured with the undigested thiaminase- containing food in their stomachs. (2) The findings could help to explain apparent dis- crepancies that sometimes occur in regard to the reported thiaminase activity of a certain species. For example, burbot is listed in Table 1 as containing thiaminase when the animal came from the Great Lakes; whereas, burbot did not contain thiaminase when captured from Rainy Lake, Minn. It is possible that the bur- bot feeds on thiaminase-containing animals in the Great Lakes; whereas, the animals avail- able for food in Rainy Lake are thiaminase- free. Another possibility is that the burbot from the Great Lakes was captured with un- digested (thiaminase-containing) food in its viscera, and the burbot from Rainy Lake was captured with completely digested food in its viscera. Additional precautions that have to be con- sidered in using the data presented in the tables are: The data do not indicate which animals have the greatest concentration of thiaminase and which have lesser concentrations of the enzyme. In many respects this factor may not be too important, at least with present lack of knowledge about threshold concentrations in regard to the ability of thiaminase to impair physiological activity of thiamine. In other words, even a small amount of thiaminase in the animal could cause concern depending on the intended use of the animal. Thus, a mink rancher is not likely to feed raw, thiaminase- containing fish to mink even though it was shown that the fish contained a relatively low level of thiaminase activity. In this case, the mink rancher would cook the fish to be on the safe side. According to the results of research by Gnaedinger and Krzeczkowski ( 1966) , it ap- pears that fish with various concentrations of thiaminase activity all have to be heated to about the same temperature time relationship to give complete destruction of thiaminase ac- tivity. Therefore, a mink rancher probably should not give fish with "low" levels of thi- aminase a milder heat treatment than fish with "high" levels of thiaminase. Different analytic methods were used by the various researchers to obtain the data pre- sented in the tables. That is, the presence or absence of thiaminase was observed through various chemical methodologies or biological feeding studies; it is possible that one method of detection could show the presence of thi- aminase, whereas another method would show that the thiaminase was absent in the animal. Generally, the chemical methods for thiaminase activity are believed capable of detecting low- er levels of thiaminase than the biological methods. LITERATURE CITED 1. AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 1960. A list of common and scien- tific names of fishes from the Unit- ed States and Canada. 2nd ed. Amer. Fish. Soc. Spec. Publ. 2, 102 p. 2. BORGSTROM, G. 1961-1965. Fish as food. 4v. vol. 1. Production, biochemistry, and mi- crobiology. Academic Press, New York, 441 p. 3. DEUTSCH, H. F., and A. D. HASLER. 1943. Distribution of a vitamin Bi destructive enzyme in fish. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 53: 63-65. 4. GNAEDINGER, R. H. 1965. Thiaminase activity in fish: An improved assay method. U.S. Fish. Wildl. Serv., Fish. Ind. Res. 2(4): 55-59. 5. GNAEDINGER, R. H., and R. A. KRZECZKOWSKI. 1966. Heat inactivation of thiaminase in whole fish. Commer. Fish. Rev. 28(8): 11-14. 6. GREEN, R. G., C. A. EVANS, and W. E. CARLSON. 1937. A summary of Chastek paral- ysis studies. Minn. Wildl. Dis. In- vest. 3: 173-177. 7. JONES, W. G. 1960. Fishery resources for animal food. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. Lean. 501, 22 p. 8. LEE, C. F. 1948. Thiaminase in fishery products: A review. Commer. Fish. Rev. 10(4): 7-17. 9. LEE, C. F., and W. CLEGG. 1955. Technical Note No. 31 — Weight range, proximate composi- tion and thiaminase content of fish taken in shallow water trawling in northern Gulf of Mexico. Commer. Fish. Rev. 17(3): 21-23. 10. MELNICK, D., M. HOCHBERG, and B. L. OSER. 1945. Physiological availability of the vitamins. II. The effect of dietary thiaminase in fish products. J. Nutr. 30(2): 81-88. 11. NEILANDS, J. B. 1947. Thiaminase in aquatic animals of Nova Scotia. J. Fish. Res. Bd. Can. 7(2): 94-99. 12. STOUT, F. M., J. E. OLDFIELD, and J. ADAIR. 1963. A secondary induced thiaminase deficiency in mink. Nature 197 (4869): 810-811. 13. WOLF, L. D. 1942. Fish diet disease of trout. A vitamin deficiency produced by diets containing raw fish. N.Y. State Conserv. Dep., Fish. Res. Bull. No. 2. Table 1. — Thiaminase presence in freshwater animals. Common name Part of fish analyzed Scientific name Source Thiaminase presence or absence1 Reference Alewife Whole Bass, largemouth Whole Bass, smallmouth Whole Bluegill Whole Bowfin (dogfish) Whole Bowfin Whole Buffalofish Viscera Bullhead Whole Bullhead (mixture of black, brown, yellow) . . . Whole Burbot Viscera Burbot Whole Burbot Whole Carp Whole Carp Viscera Catfish (channel) Whole Chub (bloater) Whole Clams (chowder, steamer, cherrystone Not stated Crappie Whole Eel Muscle Eel Viscera Fathead minnow Whole Gar (n. longnose) Whole Goldfish Whole Lake herring Whole Lamprey (adult) Whole Mud minnow Whole Mussel (pigtoe) Muscle Pike (northern) Whole Pike (walleye) Viscera Pumpkinseed Whole Rock bass Whole Salmon Muscle Salmon Viscera Salmon (coho) Whole Sauger Viscera Sculpin Whole Shad (gizzard) Whole Sheepshead (freshwater drum) Whole Sheepshead (freshwater drum) Viscera Shiner (spottail) Whole Smelt (American) Whole Smelt (pond) Not stated Stoneroller (central) Whole Sucker (common white) . . . Whole Trout, brown Whole Trout, lake Viscera Trout, rainbow Whole White bass Viscera Whitefish, Menomonee .... Viscera Pomolobus pseudoharengus .... Lake Michigan Hiiro salmoides Great Lakes Micropterus d. dolomieu Great Lakes Lepomis m. macrochirus Great Lakes Amia calva Arkansas Amia calva Great Lakes Ictiobus cyprinellus Arkansas Ameirurus m. melas Great Lakes Ictalurus ssp Arkansas Lota lota maculosa Great Lakes Lota lota Lake Erie Lota Iota Rainy Lake Cyprinus carpio Great Lakes Cyprimts carpio Great Lakes Ictalurus punctatus Great Lakes Coregonus hoyi Lake Michigan Not stated Not stated Pomoxis nigromaculatus Great Lakes Anguilla rostrata Not stated Anguilla rostrata Not stated Pimephales p. prornelas Great Lakes Lepisosteus osseus oxyu.rus Unknown Carassius auratus Great Lakes Leucichthys artedi areturus .... Lake Superior Petromyzon marinus Great Lakes Umbra limi Great Lakes Pleurobema cordatum Tennessee River Esox lucius Great Lakes Stizostedion v. vitreum Great Lakes Lepomis gibbosits Great Lakes Ambloplites r. rupestris Great Lakes Salmo salar Not stated Salmo salar Not stated Oncorhynchus kisutch Lake Michigan Stizostedion c. canadense Great Lakes Myoxoccphalus quadricornis . . . Lake Michigan Dorosoma cepedianum Lake Erie Aplodinotus grunniens Lake Erie Aplodinotus grunniens Lake Erie Notropis hudsonius Lake Michigan Osmerus mordax Great Lakes Hypomesus olidus Not stated Campostoma anomahun Lake Michigan Catostomus commersoni Great Lakes Salmo trutta fario Great Lakes Cristivomer n. namaycush Great Lakes Salmo gairdnerii irideiis Great Lakes Lepibema chrysops Great Lakes Prosopium cylindraceum Great Lakes + 4, 5, 11 — 3 — 3 — 3 + 5 — 3 + (2) + 3 + (2) + 3 + (2) I2) + \ 1 + 3 + 3 — 3, 4 + 10 — 3 — 11 — 11 + 3 — 3 + 3, (2 — 3 + (2) + 3 + (2) — 3 — 3 — 3 — 3 — 11 — 11 i2\ + \ ) 3 + o + 5 n — (*) + 5 + 3, 4, 5, 11 — 2 + (2) + 3, 11, 0 — 3 — 3 — 3 + 3 + 3 Table 1. — Thiaminase presence in freshwater animals — Continued. Common name Part of fish analyzed Scientific name Source Thiaminase presence or absence1 Reference White-fish Dressed White perch Muscle White perch Viscera Yellow perch Whole Coregoims clupeaformis Great Lakes Morone americana Not stated Morone americana Not stated Perca flavescens Great Lakes + 3 11 11 3, 11 1 + indicates that thiaminase was found to be present; — indicates that it was not found to be present. - Unpublished data. Analyses made at National Marine Fisheries Service, Ann Arbor Technological Laboratory, Ann Arbor, Mich. (Analyses performed by the chemical method of: Gnaedinger, 1965.) Table 2. — Thiaminase presence in marine animals. Common name Part of fish analyzed Scientific name Source Thiaminase presence or absence1 Reference Anchovies Whole Anchovies Whole Black backs Whole Butterfish Whole Cusk Muscle Cusk Viscera Clams Cod Fillets Cod Viscera Croaker Whole Cunner Viscera Cutlassfish (silver eels) Whole Dogfish Muscle Dogfish Viscera Eelpout Muscle Eelpout Viscera Goosefish Muscle Goosefish Viscera Haddock Dressed Haddock Viscera Hake Whole Halibut Muscle Halibut Viscera Herring Whole King whiting (ground mullet) Whole Lemon sole Whole ' Lizardfish Whole Lobster Muscle Lobster Viscera Lumpfish Muscle Lumpfish Viscera Mackerel Whole Mackerel Whole Menhaden Whole Menhaden (large scale) Whole Moray eel Whole Mullet Whole Mussel Oyster Muscle Periwinkle Muscle Plaice, Canadian Muscle Plaice, Canadian Viscera Pollock Muscle Pollock Viscera Porgy (scup) Whole Porgy (scup) Whole Quahog, black or ocean ... Razor belly (scaled sardine) . Whole Red fish Whole Seabass Whole Sea catfish Whole Sea raven Muscle Sea raven Muscle Sea robin Viscera Scallop Muscle Anchoa hepsetus Gulf of Mexico Engraulis mordax Not stated Pseudopleuronectes americanus . Atlantic Ocean Poronotus triacanthus Gulf of Mexico Brosme brosme Atlantic Ocean Brosme brosme Atlantic Ocean Mya arenaria Atlantic Ocean Gadus morhua Atlantic Ocean Gadus morhua Atlantic Ocean Micropogon tindulatus Gulf of Mexico Tautogolabrus adspersus Long Island Sound Trichiurus lepturus Gulf of Mexico Squalus acanthias Atlantic Ocean Squalus acanthias Atlantic Ocean Zoarces anguillaris Atlantic Ocean Zoarces anguillaris Atlantic Ocean Lophius piscatorius Atlantic Ocean Lophius piscatorius Atlantic Ocean Melanogrammus aeglefinus .... Atlantic Ocean Melanogra/mmus aeglefinus .... Atlantic Ocean Urophycis spp Gulf of Mexico Hippoglossus hippoglossus Atlantic Ocean Hippoglossits hippoglossus Atlantic Ocean Clupea harengns Atlantic Ocean Menticirrhus americanus Gulf of Mexico Pseudopleuronectes americanus dignabilis Not stated Synodus foetens Gulf of Mexico Homarus americanus Atlantic Ocean Homarus americanus Atlantic Ocean Cyclopterus lumpus Atlantic Ocean Cyclopterus lumpus Atlantic Ocean Scomber scombrus Atlantic Ocean Scomber japonicus Pacific Ocean Brevoortia tyrannus Chesapeake Bay Brevoortia patronus Gulf of Mexico Gymnothorax ocellatus Gulf of Mexico Mugil sp Gulf of Mexico Mytilus edulis Pacific Ocean Ostrea edulis Atlantic Ocean Littorina litorea Atlantic Ocean Hippoglossoides platessoides . . . Atlantic Ocean Hippoglossoides platessoides . . . Atlantic Ocean Pollachius virens Atlantic Ocean Pollachius virens Atlantic Ocean Stenotomus aculeatus Gulf of Mexico Stenotomus chrysops Chesapeake Bay Artica islandica Atlantic Ocean Harengula pensacolae Gulf of Mexico Sebastes marinus Not stated Centropristis striatas Chesapeake Bay Galeichthys felis Gulf of Mexico Hemitripterus americanus Atlantic Ocean Hemitripterus americanus Atlantic Ocean Prionotus ssp Gulf of Mexico Placopecten grandis Atlantic Ocean + 7 + 12 — 3, 11 + 9 — 11 — 11 + 11, (*) — 3, 11 — 11 — 9, C) — 8 9, (2) — 11 — 11 — 11 — 11 — 11 — 11 — 3, 11 — 11 — 9 — 11 — 11 + 3, 11 0 3 — 9 — 11 + 11 — 11 — 11 — 3, 11 + 2 + (') + 7 + 9 t') + \ 1 8, 11 — 11 — 11 — 11 — 11 — 11 — 11 — 9 + \ 1 8 + 9 — 3 l2\ \ ) 9 — 11 — 11 — 9, 0 + 11 Table 2. — Thiaminase presence in marine animals — Continued. Common name Part of fish analyzed Si icntific name Source Thiaminase presence or absence1 Reference Sculpin Muscle Shrimp (brine) Whole Skate Muscle Skate Viscera Spot Whole Squid Whole Starfish Whole Tautog (blackfish) Viscera White trout Whole Whiting Whole Witch flounder Muscle Witch flounder Viscera Yellow tails Whole Myoxocephalus octodeci mspinosus Atlantic Ocean .1 Hernia salina Lab grown Raja senta Atlantic Ocean Raja senta Atlantic Ocean Leiostomits xanthurus Gulf of Mexico Loligo brevis Gulf of Mexico Asterias vulgaris Atlantic Ocean Tautoga onitis Long Island Sound Cynoscion ave.no/rius Gulf of Mexico Merluccius bilinearis Atlantic Ocean Glyptocephalus cyvoglossus .... Atlantic Ocean Glyptoeephalus cynoglossus .... Atlantic Ocean Limanda ferruginea Atlantic Ocean 11 (2) 11 11 9, (2) 9 11 8 9 3 11 11 3, 11 1 + indicates that thiaminase was found to be present; — indicates that it was not found to be present. 2 Unpublished data. Analyses made at National Marine Fisheries Service, Ann Arbor Technological Laboratory, Ann Arbor, Mich. (Analyses performed by the chemical method of: Gnaedinger, 1965.) GPO 998-304 MBL WHOI Library 5 WHSE 01815 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL OCEANIC & ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS STAFF BLDG. 67, NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98115 POSTAGE AND FEES PAID U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OFFICIAL BUSINESS PERIODICALS LIBRARIAN MARINE B10L00LCAL LABORATORY LTt-H^RY WOODS HOLE, MA 02543