Chemists at Moscow State University found the cause of the unpleasant smell of gray whale meat hunted by the indigenous people of Chukotka. It turns out that this phenomenon is associated with the diet of annelids, gray whales that feed on multiple rings. Scientific research https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/chemosphere In Chemosphere magazine.
Scientists have tried to explain the reason for the pungent medicinal smell emanating from whale meat with various hypotheses. For example, the researchers suggested that the odor of whale meat is influenced by the effects of oil spills as well as biotoxins consumed by mammals from the ocean floor.
To analyze whale meat samples, Russian chemists chose a highly sensitive, reliable and informative gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method. Using this technology, scientists were able to identify each molecule of complex mixtures of substances that can be divided according to components and their characteristic mass spectrum.
During the analysis of chromato-mass spectrometry of gray whale meat, scientists found about 700 organic compounds. A study of the most foul-smelling meat samples showed that the odor was 2,6-dibromophenol.
“The amount of this substance in stink whales is 300-500 times higher than in normal whales. This is 500 times the sensitivity threshold for a person, so the smell should be felt really clearly. In addition, dibrophenol has a medicinal iodoform odor that is also characteristic of whale meat,” he said.
In addition, the authors of the scientific study learned that gray whales feed mainly on polyhedral and crustaceans (crustaceans) that live in different places. Polychaetes prefer to live closer to the shore. They are the ones that produce 2,6-dibromophenol during growth, so malodorous whales are predominantly individuals that feed on multiple rings.