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In the food industry, carob powder is used as a cocoa substitute. It consists primarily of sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose) in addition to tannins, fibers, etc. D-(+)-Pinitol (3-0-methyl-D-c/zzro-inositol), myoinositol, and D-(+)-c/zt'ro-inositol were isolated from a fermented water extract of carob powder. The concentration of pinitol ranged from 5 to 7.5% of the dry weight of the powder as determined by GC. myo-inositol and c/zzro-inositol were minor components with concentrations of 0.5 to 1% and 0.1%, respectively. As pinitol is not present in cocoa powder, it can be used as a natural marker of carob adulteration of cocoa powder. Further investigations, including GC-MS, revealed traces of ononitol (4-O-methyl-myo-inositol), sequoyitol (5-O-methyl-myo-inositol), and bomesitol (1-O-methyl-myo-inositol) to be present in a fermented water extract of carob powder in addition to sorbitol.

Hybridization is widespread in fish and constitutes an important mechanism in fish speciation. There is, however, little knowledge about hybridization in mormyrids. F1-interspecies hybrids between Campylomormyrus tamandua ♂ × C. compressirostris ♀ were investigated concerning: (1) fertility; (2) survival of F2-fish and (3) new gene combinations in the F2-generation concerning the structure of the electric organ and features of the electric organ discharge. These F1-hybrids achieved sexual maturity at about 12–13.5 cm total length. A breeding group comprising six males and 13 females spawned 28 times naturally proving these F1-fish to be fertile. On average 228 eggs were spawned, the average fertilization rate was 47.8%. Eggs started to hatch 70–72 h after fertilization, average hatching rate was 95.6%. Average mortality rate during embryonic development amounted to 2.3%. Average malformation rate during the free embryonic stage was 27.7%. Exogenous feeding started on day 11. In total, we raised 353 normally developed larvae all of which died consecutively, the oldest specimen reaching an age of 5 months. During survival, the activities of the larval and adult electric organs were recorded and the structure of the adult electric organ was investigated histologically.

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