Abstract:

Nutritive composition in muscle of wild double-headed parrotfish Cheilinus undulates was investigated in this study. Results showed that the contents of moisture, crude protein, crude lipid, and crude ash in fresh muscle of C. undulates were 80.97%, 18.38%, 0.10% and 0.49%, respectively. A total of 18 kinds of common amino acid in the muscle was detected with the 15.7%(wet weight); the content of essential amino acids was 39.37% of the total ones, which met the Food and Agriculture Organization of the Untied Nations/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) standard. The ratio of branch-chain amino acids to aromatic amino acids was 2.5654, close to the normal value of that in human. According to nutritive evaluation in amino acid score(AAS), the first limited amino acid was threonine (Thr), the second was tryptophane (Trp), and the value of essential amino acid index (EAAI) was 68.46. The total content of four smelled amino acids was 31.85%. The content of EPA + DHA in fatty acids was 21.86%。The elements of Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn were found in muscle, which were essential for the human. In conclusion, this research indicated that C. undulates is a nutritive sea-food fish.

Key words: double-headed parrotfish Cheilinus undulates, biochemical composition, amino acid, fatty acid, mineral and trace element