The discrepancy in the carbonate found in fish bone and blood

It has been reported in the literature that fish, to get sufficient oxygen, must overventilate with respect to CO₂ and therefore exhibit a low circulating level of bicarbonate.Accordingly, the bones of trout and carp were analyzed to learn if the composition of their bone mineral reflects the low serum level of bicarbonate. It was found that the CO₂ content of fish bone is not significantly different from that of normal mammalian bone.Synthetic apatite crystals, made under comparable conditions of T, , and (HCO₃^–) were found to contain only 1/7th to 1/8th the CO₂ of fish bone.These data strongly suggest that the composition of the fluids in bone does not reflect, in a simple way, the composition of the circulating serum as is generally assumed.This work was supported in part by the United States Public Health Service Training Grant No. 1 T1 DE 175-02 and in part by the United States Atomic Energy Commission Contract No. W-7401-Eng-49 and has been assigned Report No. UR-49-922.