Milt (redirected from milted)

milt

1. the testis of a fish

2. the spermatozoa and seminal fluid produced by a fish

3. Rare the spleen of certain animals, esp fowls and pigs

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Milt 

the sperm of fishes. Mature milt is milky white in color. The volume of milt, for example, in a basking shark is 18 liters, in a sturgeon 0.5 liter, in a salmon 2–4 cu cm, in a carp 1–3 cu cm, and in a pike about 1 cu cm; There are 2–3 billion spermatozoa in 1 cu cm of sturgeon milt, 35 billion in perch milt, 28 billion in carp milt, and 14 billion in pike milt. The spermatozoa are immobile in the milt.

In fish breeding, to artificially inseminate roe, milt is obtained from naturally matured males or from those that have been subjected to hormonal treatment (injections of a pituitary suspension or other preparations into the body muscles of males). The milt is strained off by applying light pressure to the fish’s abdomen. In fishes with internal insemination, the spermatozoa are united in aggregates—spermatophores and spermatozeumae.

Milt contains complete animal proteins and, therefore, is very nutritious. Protamines, proteins which in complexes with a number of medicinal substances (such as insulin) prolong the effect of those substances, are obtained from the milt of sturgeon, salmon, and other fishes. Sometimes the reproductive glands of fishes are called milt.