The totoaba's
swim bladder is considered a delicacy in China and can fetch up to $20,000 on the black market.
From a total of 98 live fishes, Oreochromis niloticus (49), Cyprinus carpio (30), and Clarias gariepinus (19), a total of 384 organ samples (96 skins, 98 gills, 94 intestines, 33
swim bladders, 19 kidneys, and 44 livers) were collected and sampled for this study.
These types of fish can carry out lung respiration (Moraes et al., 2005), skin respiration (Mittal and Munshi, 1971; Park et al., 2006),
swim bladder respiration (Graham, 2011), air bladder respiration (Hughes et al., 1974); supra-branchial organ respiration (Hakim et al., 1978; Baloch and Jafri, 2004) or digestive track respiration (Park and Kim, 2001; Podkowa and Goniakowska-Witalinska, 2002; Cruz et al., 2009).
Microbiological evaluation of fresh
swim bladders revealed presence of gram positive bacilli and gram negative coco bacilli in few numbers by gram's staining which were non pathogenic and counted colony forming units were not significant in terms of microbial load.
Lauriano et al., "Morphology and innervation of the teleost physostome
swim bladders and their functional evolution in non-teleostean lineages," Acta Histochemica, vol.
This year, for the first time in the event's history, a specialist vegan bar will be open serving 20 different beverages all made without isinglass finings which derive from the
swim bladders of fish.
Most species either scrape bones together or vibrate air-filled
swim bladders.
It's derived from the
swim bladders of certain tropical fish and, while many brewers have found animal-friendly alternatives for their beers, Guinness isn't one of them.
Who would guess that the
swim bladders of tropical fish are routinely used to 'fine' - or clear - beer and wine.
They conducted a literature review, kept a lab log, and presented their results to a group of Mount Sinai doctors, reporting that DDT exposure affected both zebrafish reproduction and survival, and that it may affect the fishes'
swim bladders as well.
In most living fish, however, lungs have transformed into
swim bladders.(6)
The finings are still made from traditional fish
swim bladders which have an electrostatic effect, hoovering up any residual matter in the beer and forming sediment on the base of the keg.