Abstract

AMINO ACID PROFILE IN MARINE CRAB CHARYBDIS LUCIFERA (FABRICIUS, 1798).

Ilavarasan. Nachimuthu, Stella Irin Kumari. Alphones, Murali Shankar. Anaiappan, Jaganathan. Kamalesan and Soundarapandian. Peyil*

Abstract

The pharmaceutically and economically important C. lucifera has an enormous potential that is yet unexploited even though they are mostly consumed and exported. Practically no information is available on the amino acids status of C. lucifera. In general, before the introduction of a new species to aquaculture, one should know the nutritional status of that animal. The amino acids in the edible parts of muscle tissue of C.lucifera were determined by HPLC. Totally 9 essential amino acids of different sexes (male, female and berried female) were recorded in the present study. Histidine (5.578 g) was abundant and Valine (0.654 g) was minimum in all sexes of the present study. Total essential amino acids were maximum in berried females (12,054g) followed by females (9.507g) and males (6.373g). Totally 11 non essential amino acids were recorded in the present study. Glutamic acid was uniformly maximum in all sexes. However alanine was minimum in all animals irrespective of the sex. Total non essential amino acids were maximum in berried females (15.638g) rather than females (11.866g) and males (8.234g).

Keywords: Amino acids, HPLC, C. lucifera, male, female, berried female