An aqueous-alcoholic extract of fresh haddock muscle has been fractionated by displacement chromatography using ion-exchange resins. Twenty-five amino-acids and nitrogenous bases have been identified and two of them, trimethylamine oxide and anserine, have been isolated in 5-10 g. quantity.Although the nitrogenous extractives do not contribute greatly to the food value of fish, the study of these compounds is nevertheless of considerable importance because of their effect on spoilage by micro-organisms and because of the contribution they, and their degradation products, make towards the characteristic flavour of fish. The chemistry and metabolism of the nitrogenous extractives of muscle from marine animals has been the subject of a recent review (Shewan, 1951).Investigation of the extractives has in the past been handicapped by the lack of rapid methods for the qualitative characterization, isolation and estimation of the large range of bases and amino-acids commonly present ; however, this position has been greatly improved by the introduction of paper chromatography (Consden, Gordon PU Martin, 1944) and the new technique has for some time been employed in the work at Torry Research Station in an attempt to extend the range of information, particularly on the extractives of the commercial marine species.The application of paper chromatography has revealed the presence of a much wider range of nitrogenous compounds than was hitherto supposed, particularly among the neutral aminoacids. Kutscher & Ackermann (1933, 1936) previously showed the presence of glycine, alanine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, glutamic acid, proline, leucine, arginine and also tyramine in muscle extracts from Echinoderms, Mollusca and Crustacea but data for the true fishes, Elasmobranchs and Teleosts, were few. ,4 preliminary examination of representatives of the more important food fishes carried out by one of us (L. I. I?.) showed striking differences in their amino-acid patterns. As can be seen from Table I, the greatest amount of alanine, as judged by spot density on chromatograms sprayed with ninhydrin, was present in the hemng. b-Alanine was found present in greatest amount in skate, slightly less in eel and as a trace in the herring and lemon sole. An unknown spot giving RF values similar to valine was markedly present in skate and dogfish and as a trace in eel. A blue-green spot due to anserine, carnosine, methylhistidine or a mixture of these compounds enabled the gadoids to be easily differentiated. Traces of this spot which shows its typical colour when developed at 115' with ninhydrin were found in herring, skate and eel.Other compounds which did not react with ninhydrin, e.g. trimethylamine oxide, creatine, creatinine, were revealed by making use of the iodine reaction of Brante (1948). Yudaev (1949) developed a paper-chromatographic technique which was capable of separating and distinguishing carnosine and anserine, and using this method he was able to show (1950~) that seven fresh-water species, carp (Cyprinus carpio), chub (Sqz...