Biochemical and fatty acid composition of Arca noae (Bivalvia: Arcidae) from the Mali Ston Bay, Adriatic Sea

Abstract

Biochemical and fatty acid composition of the bivalve Arca noae were investigated in the Mali Ston Bay in relation to environmental conditions. Sampling was carried out monthly, from December 2001 to November 2002. Wet shellfish meat consists on average of 77.61% water and 22.39% dry matter, while dry shellfish meat consists on average of 89.04% organic and 10.96% inorganic matter. PCA analysis identified temperature, nitrate, silicate, MICRO, Chl a and salinity as the most important environmental factors influencing biochemical composition of A. noae. An increase of dry weight content of A. noae was observed during the spring when both the sea temperature and food supply increased rapidly. Contents of protein (54.39-62.06% of dry weight), carbohydrate (4.13-8.07% of dry weight) and lipid (3.46-8.58% of dry weight) varied significantly during the year. Protein and lipid level reached the maximum value in June. The fatty acid profiles of total lipids extracted from A. noae showed high level of unsaturation (UNS/SAT 1.9-3.4). Total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) represented the majority of total fatty acids (40.3-59.9% of total fatty acids) and the most abundant were eicosapentaenoic (20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic (22:6n-3) acid. n-3/n-6 PUFA ratio value varied between 2.1 and 5.0 and was the highest during the spring (April to June). Due to their low lipid and high percentages of healthy polyunsaturated fatty acids A. noae can be evaluated as a quality seafood product. The most suitable period of the year for its consumption is in the spring when it reaches its highest nutritional values.

Trace Metals in Noah’s Ark Shells (Arca noae Linnaeus, 1758): Impact of Tourist Season and Human Health Risk

“…Data on the biochemical and fatty acid composition of Noah's Ark shell tissue indicated it would be an excellent source of n-3 fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic (20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic (22:6n-3) acid (Dupčić Radić et al 2014), and as such it represents a high quality seafood product. Enhanced activities connected with tourism along the Croatian coast affected the increase in the seafood market and intensified the harvesting of natural populations of A. noae.…”

Effects of stocking density on the aquaculture performance of diploid and triploid, Pacific oysterCrassostrea gigasand Portuguese oysterC. angulatain warm water aquaculture

“…angulata farmed in Shantou waters is significantly higher than that of most bivalves, but Megangulus zyonoensis and Megangulus venulosus from Hokkaido, Japan (Kawashima & Ohnish, 2003), C . gigas from Bizert lagoon, north of Tunisia (Dridi et al, 2007), Mytilus edulis from Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland (Alkanani et al, 2007), Fulvia mutica from Weihai, China (Liu et al, 2013), Ensis siliqua from Sado estuary, Portugal (Baptista et al, 2014), Arca noae from Mali Ston Bay, Croatia (Dupcic‐radic et al, 2014), Pecten maximus and Placopecten magellanicus from German (Manthey‐Karl et al, 2015), Mytilus galloprovincialis from southern parts of the Black Sea coast (Dernekbasi et al, 2015) and Bulgarian Black Sea coast (Merdzhanova et al, 2016), and Tegillarca granosa from Yeosu, Korea (Nguyen et al, 2017). All these results indicate that diploid and triploid, C .…”

A trial for improving thyroid gland dysfunction in rats by using a marine organism extract

“…Arca noae is a bivalve mollusk and mostly distributed along the coasts of the Mediterranean sea and the Atlantic ocean besides the Black seas and West Indies (Dupcic Radic et al, 2014). Studying the distribution and the density of the population ecology of any important mollusk species may help in monitoring fisher men activity.…”