Abstract
Estimation of the nutritional profile of edible fishes is essential, and thus, we have evaluated nutritional composition and amino and fatty acids profiling of recently commercialized marine pufferfishes from the coast of Mandapam in the Gulf of Mannar. Proximate analyses including assessment of ash, moisture, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids in the muscles of five edible marine pufferfishes were carried out. Major fatty acids profile of five fish species disclosed the presence of saturated fatty acids (SFA, 6.22-16.78%), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs, 3.01-10.59%), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs, 8.4-20.01%). The overall percentage of omega fatty acids ranged between omega 3 and omega 6 (5.63-14.01% and 2.77-6.1%), and the ratio of omega 3/omega 6 was 3.08-2.03% and omega 6/omega 3 was 0.32-0.49%. Moreover, n-3 PUFA was more than n-6 PUFA. In contrast, major amino acids in five fish species were glycine (4.77%), lysine (3.57%), methionine (2.91%), arginine (2.04%), and threonine (1.81%). The results obtained from this study can act as baseline data for evaluating the nutritional profiles of various fishes in the future. This is the first report of fatty and amino acids analysis on recently commercialized marine pufferfishes in the Gulf of Mannar region, and this finding may lead to new insights for further research.