Fatty acid profile and proximate composition of Pacific mullet (Mugil so-iuy) caught in the Black Sea

Abstract

This study demonstrates proximate composition and fatty acid profile of Pacific mullet caught in Turkey. The highest moisture and protein contents were observed with muscle tissues as 83.74 and 10.52%, while the highest fat and ash contents were attributed to female gonads as 11.80 and 0.94%, respectively, with a significant variation amongst months (P < 0.05). Significant variation (P < 0.05) usually occurred amongst months within the same sex for total saturated fatty acids (?SFA), monosaturated fatty acids (?MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (?PUFA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in muscle, although overall mean values between sexes were not found significant. Except for EPA, no variation observed for gonads while significant changes occurred (P < 0.05) with liver samples amongst months. Overall total values of ?SFA, ?MUFA, ?PUFA, DHA and EPA in muscle samples were 29.59, 29.26, 18.06 and 4.48%, respectively, while in gonads ranged as 30.26-33.23%, 35.17-37.47%, 11.87-14.88%, 4.38-5.34% and 3.02-5.02%. These FAs were 21.57-33.11%, 32.89-50.96%, 14.78-20.08%, 0.89-9.94% and 5.85-9.54% for liver, respectively. The results of this study showed that muscle and gonads of Pacific mullet were rich in n-3 PUFA, especially, EPA, DHA, increasing the value of this species for human consumption. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Institute of Food Science and Technology.