Seasonal Changes in Total Carotenoid Contents of Some Fish and Crustaceans Inhabiting the Eastern Mediterranean Sea


YANAR Y., YANAR M., Buyukcapar H. M.

JOURNAL OF ANIMAL AND VETERINARY ADVANCES, cilt.11, sa.24, ss.4501-4505, 2012 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

Özet

This study was conducted to determined the total carotenoid concentration of different body parts of green tiger shrimp (Penaeus semisulcatus), kuruma shrimp (Penaeus japonicus), speckled shrimp (Metapenaeus monoceros), blue crab (Callinectus sapidus), red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) and red mullet (Mullus barbatus) caught from the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean in February and October. The carotenoid levels of head, shell and whole body of all animals were higher in October than those in February while their muscle carotenoids were not affected by seasons, except for kuruma shrimp and speckled shrimp. Amounts of carotenoids were highest in the head, decreasing in shell (or skin.) and muscle. Average total carotenoid concentration among body parts of species ranged from 16.19-55.44 mg kg(-1) in green tiger shrimp, 16.77-74.92 mg kg(-1) in kuruma shrimp, 17.24-66.36 mg kg(-1) in speckled shrimp, 6.41-14.34 mg kg(-1) in blue crab, 1.37-28.77 mg kg(-1) in red porgy and 1.30-39.26 mg kg(-1) in red mullet. These values are quite high compared to other sea foods. Since, coloration plays an important role in consumer preference, it would be advantageous to fish these animals in October rather than February.