Amines in Fish Muscle: II. Development of Trimethylamine and Other Amines

Relatively large amounts of nonvolatile higher amines are formed during proteolysis of fish muscle by bacteria. This follows closely the formation of trimethylamine. Fresh fish contain 0.2 mg. nitrogen per 100 g, muscle as trimethylamine and about 0.1 mg. nitrogen per 100 g. as dimethylamine. Trichloracetic acid and formaldehyde solutions completely extracted trimethylamine from fish and satisfactory recovery of added trimethylamine was obtained.