Chitin is a substance which is widely distributed in the world of living things and especially it has been known as the principal constituent of shell of Crustacea. Therefore, it is imagined that chitinolytic enzyme may exist in digestive organs of fish, because many of Crustacea are consumed as their baits. Up to date, however, studies on this problem have been hardly reported.
The present study is carried out in order to ascertain whether the chitinolytic enzyme is present or not, in the digestive tracts of Japanese sea-bass, Lateolabrax japonicus.
Results obtained are as follows:
1) The chitinolytic enzyme is present in the stomach of Japanese sea-bass, but not or little in the pyloric caeca and the intestine (Table 1). 2) The enzyme is inherent in the fish itself, and its optimum pH value is at about 4 and the optimum temperature is at about 50°C (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3).
3) Substances which are formed by the action of the enzyme may be N-acetylglucosamine and N, N'-diacetylchitobiose (Fig. 4, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6).