Effects of fat content on diffusion of water in fish muscle

The coefficients of diffusion of water, Di and Dii, associated with states of ‘high’ and ‘low’ hydration respectively in fish muscle are sensitively dependent on the amount of fat present. The diffusion resistivity D−1 for various species may be represented in both cases by straight lines of the form Where F is fat content and α and β are constants. Although the results for various species appear to fall about common lines for Di−1 and Dii−1, the diffusion of water in the muscle of dogfish (Squalus acanthias L.) is anomalous in certan respects. The experimental evidence is generally incompatible with a muscle microstructure consisting of a dispersion of fat in a non‐fatty medium, as is commonly supposed, but is more in accord with one consisting of relatively non‐fatty tissue entirely surrounded by fat, the thickness of which increases linearly with fat content.