Blubber fats from six fin whales, four sei whales, and one humpbacked whale taken in Nova Scotian waters have been studied. Dorsal, lateral, and ventral samples were compared for thickness, fat contents of inner and outer layers, and the iodine values of the recovered fats. The concept that in "fat" mysticeti whales the iodine value is higher in the inner blubber than in the outer blubber was supported by the results. It is concluded that iodine value fluctuations in one animal in a fattening stage represent surplus polyunsaturated acids deposited first in the inner layer and first in the ventral area. Correspondingly, the outer dorsal blubber is the most stable. Species differences correspond to those for Antarctic animals.

Sei whale and fin whale blubbers are infiltrated by increasing amounts of connective tissue fibers with depth from the epidermis, However, the blubber of sei whales differs from that of fin whales in that it is also interrupted by a definite layer of collagenous and elastic fibers, which in the dorsal blubber is well separated from the muscle proper, but which in the lateral and ventral blubber is progressively closer to the muscle. The layers are discussed in terms of neonatal development and of fat turnover in the adult.

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Cod flesh lipids were separated by silicic acid chromatography into eight fractions, and the fatty acid distribution in five of these was examined by gas–liquid chromatography (GLC). As compared with the fatty acid composition of total flesh lipids, sterol esters contained less 16:0 but more 20:5ω3; ethanolamine phosphatides contained less 16:0, less 20:5ω3, but more 22:6ω3; serine phosphatides contained less 16:0 and less 20:5ω3 but more 18:0; and choline phosphatides had a fatty acid composition roughly similar to that of total flesh lipid but containing slightly more 16:0 and 20:5ω3 and less 22:6ω3. In fatty acid composition, the triglycerides more closely resembled liver lipid than any of the flesh lipid fractions.

Dimethyl-β-propiothetin (DMPT), associated with dimethyl sulphide (DMS) in the "blackberry" problem in cod from Labrador, was absorbed from the digestive system when fed to laboratory-held cod. Uptake of DMPT by blood and deposition in tissues were readily detected when the intake level exceeded 10 mg DMPT/day. No obvious amount of DMS was formed from the DMPT. The deposits of DMPT were rapidly removed from flesh when intake ceased. Open cooking (baking) at high temperatures of cod flesh containing DMPT completely destroyed DMPT with no deleterious effects. Cooking at lower temperatures (boiling) probably only partly destroyed DMPT as objectionable taste and odour effects were generally observed. During freeze-drying DMPT was partly destroyed.