CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Fish Glue

Historically, glue was used to bind parchment and paper and was made from the skin

and bones of fish. (Petukhova,2000). Petukhova stated that the purest form of fish glue,

formerly known as isinglass, originated 3,500 years ago and was made of the air bladder of a

species of fish like sturgeon. Closer analysis of the amino acids found in isinglass shows a

parallel in the essential amino acids of gelatin. (Beveridge & Lucas,1994) Gelatin, like fish

scales, has 98% collagen in a dry, ash-free basis, which the primary reason as to why fish parts

can be used as an adhesive (Leach, 1986) due to either the chemisorption or adsorption ability

of the component. (AdhesiveandGlue, n.d.)

Collagen proteins from fish can be added to sugar, Epson salts, glycerin, and water to

bond water-sensitive surfaces and form a gelatinous paste after being heated to 60oC – 65oC

(Hobson, 2013). Common market fish glues show high viscosity and can be reused after

heating, with an open time of 1 – 2 hours (Kremer,n.d.) and a 12-hour cure time for harder

substances like wood. (StewMac,2017)

Extraction of the collagen then becomes the key aspect of determining the quality of

materials for glue. Pepsin soluble collagen is extracted twice, where between each extraction,

the solution is centrifuged at 9000 g for 20 minutes at 4oC (Muralidharan, Shakila, Sukumar,

& Jeyasekaran, 2011). Other species of fish have been successful in fish glue using fish scales

and skin with a crude protein level of 51.24 +- 2.15% to 65.67 +- 1.07% (Akter, Rahman,

Naher, Majumber, & Alam,2017). However, due to the limitations, the researcher will

undertake a simpler process.

Fish Scale

Fish scales are rigid plate-like structures outside of the skin that aid aquatic movement

and serve as additional protection and show a broad variety of structures, sizes, and shapes

(Ehrlich, 2014) ranging from strong and rigid armor plates in fishes like shrimpfishes and

boxfishes, to microscopic or absent in fishes like eels and anglerfishes. As such, species of fish

with scales have many divisions including the plate-like placoid scales of sharks, the diamond-

shaped ganoid scales of the gars, the thin, smooth, disk-like cycloid scales of most freshwater

fish and many marine species, and the ctenoid scales (with ctenii-small projections along the

posterior margins) of perches and sunfish (Casteel, 1976).

Scales may be used for things other than protection. In recent years, there is an

emerging use for fish scales in food therapy, where it is used as a healing jelly and as a dessert

soup (Fishkol, 2013). However, Rines (2017) argued that though fish scales contain many

nutrients, they should be not eaten because of their hard nature.

Bioplastic can also be formed from fish scales with heat and pressure (Laurens, 2011)

this is because the scales are primarily composed of protein collagen, a biopolymer (Green

Plastics, 2012). According to Green Plastics, the extracted collagen, called gelatin, is combined

with a hard, inorganic crystalline material, which forms a composite that is strong and

waterproof can be synthesized to a plastic.

Because of the primary composition of scales as collagen, the researchers thought of

using fish scales as a glue. Bradley (n.d.0 sated that heat releases the calcium from collagen

resulting in a sticky glue.