FISH FROZEN ALIVE

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 86, 6 January 1926, Page 14

FISH FROZEN ALIVE

TRANS PORTA TION EXPERIMENTS. In extreme cold such as exists in tho great rivers of Siberia, which may bo frozen solid, fishes are often imprisoned for mouths on end, aud during each period assume a rigid condition, their vital functions being tenuxnarily suspended. , This fact (says tho “Danly Telegraph ) has suggested experiments in the freezing of live fish for transportation. Some years ago tho Swiss physicist, Picket, gradually cooled the water in a tank containing different kinds of freshwater fish, until it i'rozo into a solid block. On melting tho ico two months later the slowlv thawed fish recovered their normal vitality, showing no signs of ill-health as a result of their prolonged imprisonment in the ice. As a result of a largo number of experiments of a similar nature recently conducted in America, live fish are now being transported on a commercial scale embedded in ice. , , . , , Tho fishes arc first placed m a closed tub of water into which oxygen under pressure is introduced. After being kept just above freezing point for three days they are frozen solid by immersion in a freezing mixture . . , Tho blocks of ice containing the fish ■xro then removed Hom tho tubs, and ars surrounded with a heat insulating packing and under such conditions they can bo kept in cold storage until wanted. Tho cost of transporting live fish in water is prohibitive, for to six gallons being required for each pound of active fish,°aecording to their kind. The new freezing method which is now in use therefore saves considerable expense.