Milt

Milt, mature and having taken on a milky-white color, the gonads of male fish. The contents of such glands consist of fluid with a huge number of sperm threads, or spermatozoa. Thus, in a medium-sized bream, there are up to 156 billion of them, while in a male vimba, about 84 billion. In the sperm threads of fish, a head, a middle part, and a tail are distinguished. There is great diversity in the form and size of spermatozoa: sometimes they have a spherical head, from which a thin thread-like tail extends (pike, perch, etc.); sometimes the head has the shape of a corkscrew or a stick (sharks, rays). The size of spermatozoa is very small: for example, in perch it is 0.02 mm, and in salmon - 0.06 mm. Differing in great instability in the fish's body, milt quickly dies in water, and faster in fish that spawn (lay eggs) in fast water than in stagnant water. For example, in salmonids, the movement of the threads stops already after 23-40 seconds (trout, salmon), while in pike and carp only after 4-5 minutes. Salt water kills M. of freshwater fish, and fresh water - of marine fish. M. can maintain their viability in cold in a well-sealed jar, especially if a few drops of alcohol are poured into it. Containing a large amount of proteins and fats, M. of fish are of great nutritional value, unfortunately nowhere used; even on the huge fisheries of the Far East, where tens of thousands of poods of excellent in taste qualities M. of salmon are caught annually, they go to waste. Successful experiments have been made in preparing canned food and salting of milt.