Nutritional Evaluation of Indian Ocean Swimming Crab, Charybdis smithii (Portunidae), an Unconventional Crab Resource from the Indian Coast

ABSTRACT

Investigations were carried out to determine the nutritional profile of Indian Ocean swimming crab Charybdis smithii, which is emerging as an unconventional resource in trawl discards of India. The average protein content was 9.38 g/100 g, fat 0.86 g/100 g, ash 0.34 g/100 g, fiber 0.13 g/100 g, and carbohydrate 1.8 g/100 g. One-way analysis of variance showed no significant variations of constituents except in dry matter and carbohydrate between sexes. Macronutrients, Na (317.1, 327.6/100 g), K (148, 177.40 mg/100 g), Ca (187.90, 285.80 mg/100 g), and Mg (34.31, 41.49 mg/100 g), showed significant variation between sexes. The composition of micronutrients in male and female were Cu (0.28, 0.15 mg/100 g), Fe (0.57, 0.71 mg/100 g), and Zn (1.71, 2.75 mg/100 g). Mineral content showed significant difference between sexes. Amino acid analysis showed that 12.04 and 11.47 g/100 g essential amino acid glycine was present in male and female, respectively, and lysine concentration was 13.96 and 12.65 g/100 g, respectively. The nutritional profile of the species was determined the first time and shows that it is comparable with any other edible crabs and could be exploited as a commercial resource to supplement nutritional demand.

KEYWORDS:

• Unconventional
• Charybdis smithii
• proximate composition
• mineral composition
• amino acid
• fatty acid

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Dr. A Gopalakrishnan, Director, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi and Dr. Prathibha Rohit, Scientist-In-charge CMFRI, Mangalore for the facilities provided for the work. Authors are also thankful to Dr. Ravishankar, C.N., Director, Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Kochi for helping with the facilities to carry out some part of the study. The help rendered by the owner and crew members of “Harikripa” group of trawlers in collecting the samples in fresh form is also thankfully acknowledged. First author like to place on record, the gratitude to Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India for providing the fellowship for completing the research work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi India.