Nutritional properties of the rainbow crab Cardisoma rotundum (Quoy & Gaimard 1824) from Puducherry, Southeast coast of India

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1 Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Science Vol. 45(1), January 2016, pp Nutritional properties of the rainbow crab Cardisoma rotundum (Quoy & Gaimard 1824) from Puducherry, Southeast coast of India Rajagopal Silambarasan, G.Sankar* & K.Ramamoorthy Annamalai University, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Parangipettai , Tamil Nadu, India. *[ E mail : gibranr9@gmail.com] Received 31 December 2014; revised 12 February 2015 Present study deals with biochemical composition of rainbow crab Cardisoma rotundum was collected from Pondicherry region. The results of proximate composition in C.rotundum showed the percentage of protein was high 24.14%, followed by carbohydrate 9.34%, lipid 7.85%, moisture 37.99% and ash 20.70%. Totally ten essential amino acids were analysed. Lycine was found to be the more which constituted mg. Valine contributed low in the body tissues (0.165 mg). Non-essential amino acids also ten acids were found. Glutamic acid was found more (0.874 mg) and the Asparagine observed very low with constituted mg. Stearic acid was observed in high quantity of fatty acids (8.26 mg) and Linolenic acid was low quantity of fatty acids (1.72 mg) recorded. Among the minerals, calcium (216.8 mg) was observed as a major element and copper (0.36 mg) as the minor. [Key words: Proximate composition, Cardisoma rotundum, Fatty acids, Minerals, Amino acids.] Introduction Crabs ranked third after shrimps and lobsters for their esteemed seafood delicacy and also the value of fishery they support 1. According to the Institute of the State Statistics records 2008, the amount of production was about tonnes of other seafood products except for fish and only 25 tons of this amount belonged to marine crab species 2. Meat quality and economic value of edible crabs in terms of organisms found in western countries is of quite high price 3. Out of about 640 species of marine crabs so far recorded from Indian waters only 15 species are edible, which inhabit the coastal waters and adjoining brackish water environments, That support commercial fisherys 4-6. In Indian scenario, consumers mostly prefer bigger crabs viz., Scylla serrata and S. tranquebarica and they purposely neglect swimming crabs. Even though the other swimming crabs viz., Portunus sanguinolentus and P. pelagicus are available throughout the year in Indian coasts 7. In recent times the blue swimming crabs are processed and finally sold as a processed food, because crabs have exceptional and delicious taste. So demand for these crabs is increasing day-by-day. Crab meats contains many nutrients like vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals and free amino acids many therapeutic properties are attributed to the crab meat and it is used to cure asthma and chronic fever 8. Their nutritive value can be readily assessed by estimating the levels of protein, carbohydrate and fat in their body tissues 9. The importance of crabs as a source of protein rich food for the growing population of India especially in the coastal sector and also as an excellent raw for seafood products for export purpose is increasingly recognized in the country in the recent years. In our state, the limited utilization of shellfishes (crab) is particularly due to conservative food habits and lack of knowledge about the nutritive value of crabs. The biochemical composition of marine crabs was extensively studied, but limited to mangrove crabs 10. In India, a total of 12 marine/brackish water species belonging to six genera, viz., Scylla, Portunus, Charybdis, Matuta, Varuna and Podophthalmus are of commercial value. Proximate composition, amino acid and cholesterol contents have been extensively studied in marine crabs from India 11, 12, 9 and abroad A lot of studies examined the proximate composition of different crab species in different part of the world viz., C. maenas 16, P. pelagicus 17, queen crab, Chionoecetes opilio 18, P. pelagicus and P. sanguinolentus 19, S. serrata 20,21, C. longimanus 22, deep water crabs, M. simithi and Chaceon affinis 23, Mesopodopsis slabberi 24, S. 25,26 27 tranquebarica C. lucifera and P. sanguinolentus 11. However, available data on the proximate composition of crab Cardisoma

2 174 INDIAN J. MAR. SCI., VOL. 45, NO. 1 JANUARY 2016 rotundum are limited. So in the present study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the nutritional status of the edible portunid crab Cardisoma rotundum. Materials and Methods Puducherry is situated along the Bay of Bengal of Southern India. The total length of coastal kms. The study animal was collected from the Thengaithittu region (Lat.11 o N, Log 79 o 48; 54.7 E) and brought immediately to the laboratory for further studies. Tissues samples were dried at 60ºC in an oven and used for biochemical analysis. The Folin- et al. 28 was Ciocalteu Phenol method of Lowery adopted for the estimation of total protein. To estimate total carbohydrate, the procedure of Dubois et al. 29 using phenol-sulphuric acid was followed. The chloroform-methanol extraction procedure of Folch et al. 30 was adopted for extracting lipid. For fatty acids analysis, the samples were homogenized with chloroform: methanol (2: 1 v/v) mixture and they were extracted using the method of Bligh et al. 31. After fat was extracted, they were esterified with 1% H 2 So 4 and fatty acid methyl esters were prepared by following the procedure of 32. The minerals were estimated by following the method of Guzman et al. 33 Results In the present study, proximate composition such as protein, carbohydrate, lipid, moisture and ash contents of Cardisoma rotundum was analysed and the results were given in the Table 1 and Fig.1. Moisture content was maximum with a percentage of 37.99%. Protein formed the second dominant content with a percentage contributionn of 24.14% followed by ash and carbohydrate as 20.70% and 9.34% respectively. Lipid contributed least with 7.85% of the tissues. Fig.1.Proximate composition (in Body tissues) of Cardisoma rotundum A total of ten essential amino acids were obsserved (Table 2 and Fig.2). In these amino acids, Lysine found to be more with mg followed by Histidine, Methionine and Arginine were mg, mg and mg respectively. The remaining essential amino acids such as Isoleucine (0.298 mg), Theronine (0.274 mg), Leucine (0.242 mg), Phenylalnine (0.183 mg), Tryptophan (0.171 mg) were also observed. Valine contributed low in the body tissues (0.165 mg). Table.2. Essential amino acids observed in the tissues of Cardisoma rotundum S.No. Essential Amino Acids (EAA) A) Mg/100g 1 Arginine Methionine Isoleucine Threonine Valine Phenylaninee Lycine Tryptophan Histidine Leucine Table.1. Proximate composition of Cardisoma rotundum (in Body tissues) S.No Proximate composition Percentage contribution (%) 1 Protein Carbohydrate Lipid Ash Moisture Fig.2. Essential amino acids observed in the tissues of Cardisoma rotundum

3 SILAMBARASAN et al: NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES OF THE RAINBOW CRAB CARDISOMA ROTUNDUM 175 Non-essential amino acids observed in the study were tabulated and graphically depicted (Table 3 and Fig.3). Glutamic acid was represented more (0.874 mg) followed by Tyrosine, Cysteine and Asparatic acid were mg, mg and mg respectively. Table.3. Non-Essential amino acids observed in the tissues of Cardisoma rotundum S.No. Essential Amino Mg/ /100g Acids (NEAA) 1 Glycine Serine Aspartic acid Glutamic acid Asparagine Glutamine Alanine Cysteine Tyrosine Proline Fig.4. Fatty acids in the tissuess of Cardisoma rotundum In this present study, minerals such as Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Zinc (Zn), Iron (Fe), Copper (Cu), Sodium (Na) and Potassium (K) were observed. Calcium (216.8 mg) was observed as a major element and the minor level of 0.36 mg for Copper was detected. Results were showed in Table 5 and Fig.5. Table.5. Minerals in the tissues of Cardisoma rotundum S. No. Minerals Mg/100g 1 Calcium Sodium Potassium Copper Magnesium Iron Zinc 9.84 Fig.3. Non-Essential amino acids observed in the tissues of Cardisoma rotundum The other non-essential acids such as Serine (0.398 mg), Alanine (0.326 mg), Proline (0.304 mg), Glutamine (0.265 mg) and Glycine (0.201 mg) were also represented. Asparagine observed very low which constituted 0.138% %. Of the seven fatty acids observed, three of them were SFA, one MUFA and three PUFA. Stearic acid was found in high quantity (8.26 mg) and Linolenic acid in low quantity of fatty acids (1.72 mg) in the body tissues of C. rotundum. The fatty acids content of the present study was listed in Table 4 and depicted graphically (Fig. 4). S. No. Fatty acids Mg/100g 1 Stearic acid (C18:0) Palmitic acid (C16:0) Margaric acid (C17:0) Oleic acid Linolenic acid(c18:3) α- Linolenic acid (C18:3) Stearidonic acid(c18:4) 7.64 Table.4. Fatty acids in the tissues of Cardisoma rotundum Fig.5. Minerals in the tissues of Cardisoma rotundum Discussion Biochemical studies are very important from the nutritional point of view. Biochemical constituents in animals are known to vary with season, size of the animal, stage of maturity, temperature and availability of food etc. Protein is essential for the sustenance of life and accordingly exists in large quantities 34.

4 176 INDIAN J. MAR. SCI., VOL. 45, NO. 1 JANUARY 2016 An increasing demand for good quality animal protein for the exploding population has led to effective and increasing exploitation of the aquatic resources. The acceptability and easy digestibility of crab proteins make it very valuable in combating protein malnutrition, especially in children. The protein of crab has a high biological value with its growth promoting capacity. 35 revealed that the maximum level of protein content in Sesarma brockii body tissues was 26.1%. 36 reported that the protein in developing eggs is progressively depleted for the possible utilization of protein during embryogenesis to meet the metabolic energy demand 10 noticed the protein values in mangrove crab of S. brockii were 29.71%. 12 reported that the protein content was higher in eyestalk ablated crabs (39.81±1.83%) than those in control crabs (36.15±1.22%). The protein content of soft shell crab was found to be 8.33% and hard shell crab was 14.93% in S.ocenica assessed the protein values in C. smithii was 59.8 to 71% in dry matter basis. The protein value in P. vigil was to %. The protein content of P. pelagicus and P. sanguinolentus was % and % respectively 38. This clearly indicated the potential source for the proximate composition for human consumption. The result in the present study reveals that, the crab C.rotundum tissue is value food due to high quality protein. Carbohydrates are a group of organic compounds including sugars, starches and fibre, which is a major source of energy for animals. Carbohydrates in fishery products have no dietary fibre but only glucides, the majority of which consist of glycogen. They also contain traces of glucose, sucrose, fructose and other mono and disaccharides 34. In the present study the percentage of carbohydrates in the body tissue 9.34%. 35 similar results were observed in S.brockii in the puducherry waters. 10 noticed the carbohydrate values in mangrove crab of S. brockii ranged from %. The previous studies suggested that the carbohydrate in muscle varied from 0.3 to 0.63% in P. vigil 38, 2.4 to 3.4% in C. smithii 37, 0.17% in body meat, 0.24% in claw meat of S. serrata 20 Generally the carbohydrate content was found to be high or low when compared to other crabs. The lipids are highly efficient source of energy, as they contain more than twice the energy of carbohydrate and proteins. In the present study lipid content of tissues were 7.85 %. 12 recorded that the lipid content of control crab (1.54±0.07%) was higher than that of eyestalk ablated crabs (1.81±0.03%). In P. vigil the lipid values assessed from 5.13 to 9.73% 38. In Chaceon affinis, the lipid values were 0.7% 23 blue crab it was 1.5% 20 noticed that the lipid content in S. serrata from body meat was 1.65% and claw meat was 2.01%. 39 assessed the lipid values in S. serrata with egg (0.43%), without egg (0.7%), body meat (1.07%) and claw meat (1.0%). In crustaceans, lipids are not only the principal organic reserve and source of metabolic energy, but also indispensable in maintaining cellular integrity. Like protein, lipid also act as a major role in proximate composition. In the present study moisture and ash content of tissues were & 20.70%. 12 observed that the body ash content of the crab was not affected by eyestalk ablation. The range of both control and eyestalk ablated crab 7.83±1.29% to 7.62±0.40%. Similar result has been reported in juveniles of Penaeus monodon 40. The body moisture content of the present study was 79.15±4.58% and 78.24±3.58%, moisture content ranged from 73.5to 81.8% in body meat, 73.5 to80.16% in claw meat and 73.23to79.6% in leg meat of S. tranquebarica 25, 38 observed comparatively lower moisture values of to 74.46% in P. vigil. Whereas in C. affnins the moisture value was noticed as % reported that ash content of Acetes sp. was 19.99±0.03. So this crab species declared superior nutritive value. In this present study the moisture content was more. The high moisture contents in organisms are considered as an advantage because of its contribution in the stabilization of the organisms during movements 41. Biological value of protein is obviously reflected upon its essential amino acids concentration. In general, the shellfishes have a balanced distribution of all essential amino acids required for an adult per day. The essential amino acids are required for maintenance of life, growth, synthesis of vitamins and reproduction. In the present study body tissue showed percentage compositions of essential and nonessential amino acids are presented in muscle 7.87mg. The total essential amino acids were found to be as 3.44 mg and non-essential amino acids were 4.43 mg. Among the essential amino acids lysine was found high as 0.76 mg on dry matter basis in crab tissue. The non-

5 SILAMBARASAN et al: NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES OF THE RAINBOW CRAB CARDISOMA ROTUNDUM 177 essential amino acids glutamic acid found maximum as 0.87 mg on dry matter basis in crab tissue. 12 recorded that the total essential amino acids with eyestalk ablated and control crabs were % and % respectively. However, the non essential amino acids were % and 48.65% in eyestalk ablated and control crabs respectively. Leucine (10.334%) was maximum followed by Arginine (9.168%) and lysine (8.117%). In general, the essential amino acids are essential for the animal because the animals not able to synthesize and it should be always through external source in the form of diets. The essential amino acid composition in S.serrata was reported by reported arginine, lysine, leucine and isoleucine in blue crab. 43 recorded amino acids in the following Oder arginine, leucine, lysine, valine isoleucine, threonine, phenylalanine, methionine and histidine in S. traquebarica. 25 reported non essential amino acids in the following order: Glutamic acid, aspartic acid, alanine, glycine and serine in S. tranquebarica. In the present study, these kinds of crabs have noticed high value of EAA methionine in tissue, which have a balanced distribution of all essential amino acids required for an adult per day. This study clearly demonstrates that these crabs can be well used as the potential source of amino acid by all sections of people to do way with malnutrition. In C.rotundum, totally seven fatty acids were found. They are three saturated fatty acids (SFA), one monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and three polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Stearic acid 18:0 was observed in high quantity of fatty acids. 26 reported that the heptaeenoic acid (8.43%) was maximum followed by myristic acid (7.58%) and palmitic acid (5.97%) and pentadecanoic acid (1.62%) was minimum in Acetes sp. fed crabs; the total monounsaturated fatty acids contents were found to be higher in Acetes sp. fed crabs (3.62%) than in clam meat fed crabs (3.20%); Total polyunsaturated fatty acids content were also higher in Acetes sp. fed crabs (11.16%) than in clam meat fed crabs (9.95%). In blue crab the saturated fatty acids contributed 19.07% (Anon, 1999). 27 obtained 0.48 and 0.70% of total monounsaturated fatty acids both normal and eyestalk ablated C. lucifera. In the present study, body tissue showed the dominance of saturated fatty acids. The C.rotundum tissue could be a better alternative source (against bactericidal effect), since it contains Saturated fatty acids. Results of the present study provide not only the information about the fatty acid composition but also recommended the consumption of this shrimp meat, since they are rich in Stearic acid. It could also be added that the consumption of this crab is a nutritional assurance to millions of malnourished hungry people. Malnutrition problem in our country can be overcome by effective utilization of nutrient rich crab seafood. Marine organisms form a good source of minerals. Ash is left out after complete combustion of fish meat and gives a measure of the total mineral content. In this present study totally ten minerals were found in the body tissues. Among these minerals, calcium mg was observed as a major element and Copper was detected in minor level (0.36mg) 12 contributed that in hard shell crabs, calcium (2.028 mg) was maximum and zinc (0.445 mg) was minimum. In soft shell crabs also calcium (1.022 mg) was maximum and zinc was minimum (0.457 mg). 44 explained the importance of Ca, Mg, and K in the human nutrition. 45 reported that sea foods in general are excellent sources of I, Ca, P, Na, Fe, Zn and oysters are good sources of Fe and Cu. Minerals in different species of pearl shells from South China Sea were rich, particularly in Ca, P and Zn contents 46. Shellfish can absorb minerals directly from the aquatic environment through gills and body surface. Conclusion Life cannot be without adequate nourishment. Man needs adequate food for growth development and to lead an active and healthy life. Intake of seafood one of nutritionally superior animal protein sources accessible to man. Developed countries have well documented information on the biochemical principles of the marine organisms occurring in their waters. 47 reported that one of the species of Cardisoma was caught in tonnes in the year of 2003, at Dominican Republic region (Samaná, Montecristi, Pedernales and La Altagracia). In this area, these kinds of rainbow crabs was highly commercialized and consumed. But in our state these crabs utilization is limited due to lack of knowledge. The present results have shown that crab meat is a good source of proteins and minerals especially calcium, potassium and sodium, crab shell is rich in calcium. This study reveals that the crab Cardisoma rotundum is ideal diet food and consumption of crabs may help to prevent nutrition deficiencies in the future.

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