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Journal of Experimental Biology 90,33-41 (1981)
Published by Company of Biologists 1981

Studies on Water in Barnacle Muscle Fibres 1. The Dry Weight Components of Fresh Fibres

M. E. CLARK ¹ and J. A. M. HINKE ²

¹ Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5; Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182.
² Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5; Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, canada K1N 9A9.

The dry weight components comprise 25% of the total weight of fresh muscle fibres of the giant barnacle Balanus nubilis. Half of the solids are water insoluble; 6% of this material is fat, and the rest is mostly myofilament protein. Less than 3% of the dry weight consists of inorganic ions, and these account for only a quarter of the osmotic activity in the fibre water. Seventy per cent of the osmotic activity is due to nitrogenous solutes which comprise 18% of the dry weight. Glycine predominates, followed by TMAO+betaine, proline, glutamine+asparagine, arginine, and taurine. About 13% of the dry weight is soluble protein and not more than 10% is an unidentified soluble substance of high molecular weight. Thus, Balanus conforms with other marine invertebrates in the high content of osmotically active nitrogenous solutes in its myoplasm.