Nutritional composition of three commercially important brackish water fish species recorded from Batticaloa Lagoon, Sri Lanka

Fish is a high-quality animal-source food in the nourishment of millions worldwide. The most edible part of the fish is the muscle and which provides a proper balance of proximate and non-proximate nutrition and has a relatively low caloric value than other meats. The present study aimed to fill the gaps in the nutritional profile of three brackish water fishes (Arius maculatus, Mugil cephalus and Oreochromis niloticus) sourced from Batticaloa Lagoon, Sri Lanka. The study was conducted from November 2019 to February 2020 and fish were sampled from Kallady, Kattankudy and Arayampathy fish markets. The nutritional compositions such as moisture content, protein content, fat content and ash content of epaxial muscles of selected fishes were analyzed with standard methods. The moisture content was high among the fish muscles ranging from 56.73 ± 5.96% to 81.48 ± 2.52%. The protein content of A. maculatus, M. cephalus and O. niloticus muscles ranged as 15.36 ± 1.62%, 17.33 ± 1.96% and 13.7 ± 1.55% respectively. Amidst the selected fishes, O. niloticus is a lean fish (1.27 ± 0.35%) while A. maculatus (3.20 ± 0.59%) and M. cephalus (2.43 ± 0.37%) are low-fat fishes based on the muscle lipid content. The ash content of A. maculatus, M. cephalus and O. niloticus ranged from 1.22 ± 0.15% to 1.77 ± 0.45%, respectively. All the measured proximate parameters were significantly different (P-value < 0.05%) among the three fish species. The results of this study revealed that the A. maculatus contains the highest value of lipid and ash content while O. niloticus contains higher amount of moisture content. The M. cephalus can considered as a good source of animal protein compared to the other two fish species.