Chemical composition of the giant red sea cucumber, Parastichopus californicus, commercially harvested in Alaska

Abstract

Giant red sea cucumbers, Parastichopus californicus, are commercially harvested in the U.S. Pacific Northwest; however, the nutritional and chemical properties of its edible muscle bands and body wall have not been fully elucidated. In particular are the fatty acid profiles of P. californicus tissues, which have not been documented. Sea cucumbers were delivered live and muscle bands and body wall freeze dried, vacuum packed, and stored at –30°C until analyzed. Proximate composition of freeze-dried tissues varied greatly with muscle bands being composed of 68% protein, 12% ash, 9% carbohydrate, and 5% lipids, while the body wall was composed of 47% protein, 26% ash, 15% carbohydrate, and 8% lipids. The hydroxyproline, proline, and glycine contents of the body wall were much higher than those in muscle bands, consistent with the larger amount of connective tissue. Calcium, magnesium, sodium, and iron contents were higher in the body wall than those in muscle bands, whereas the opposite was observed for zinc content. Total long-chain n-3 fatty acid contents were 19% and 32% of total fatty acids in body wall and muscle bands, respectively. Muscle bands had higher content of eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) than body wall at 22.6% and 12.3%, respectively. High content of arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) was recorded in both body wall (7.1%) and muscle bands (9.9%). Overall, the fatty acid profiles of body wall and muscle bands of P. californicus resemble those described for other species; however, the distribution and occurrence of certain fatty acids is unique to P. californicus, being representative of the fatty acid composition of temperate-polar marine organisms. The chemical characterization of freeze-dried edible tissues from P. californicus demonstrated that these products have valuable nutritional properties. The body wall, a food product of lower market value than muscle bands, could be better utilized for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications.

Proximate composition of marine invertebrates from tropical coastal waters, with emphasis on the relationship between nitrogen and protein contents

“…The concentration of carbohydrate of H. grisea was 30% lower than that reported by Bechtel et al (2013) for the giant sea cucumber Parastichopus californicus from Alaska (USA). Sea urchins are poor in carbohydrate, but this substance has a significant role in both body coating and fertilization events (Ghazarian et al, 2010).…”

“…These data suggest that E. brasiliensis possesses a relevant fraction of nonsoluble protein and, in contrast, that more than 90% of the protein content of H. grisea is probably hydrosoluble ). The protein content of H. grisea was low in comparison with other sea cucumbers, such as Parastichopus californicus (47% dw; Bechtel et al, 2013), Holothuria polii (37% dw; Sicuro et al, 2012), Cucumaria frondosa (45% dw; Zhong et al, 2007), and 10 species analyzed by Wen et al (2010), all of then with >40% dw protein. H. grisea seems to be one of the poorest known sea cucumbers regarding protein content.…”

Comparison of Fatty Acid and Proximate Composition between <i>Holothuria edulis</i> and <i>Holothuria scabra</i> Collected from Coastal Water of Sabah, Malaysia

“…Crude protein of 68.40% in freeze-dried Parastichopus californicus was reported [7]. The crude protein contained in Isostichopus sp varies within month (2.74% to 6.63% on wet weight basis) as the highest protein values were found to relate with breeding season [35] of sea cucumber.…”

“…PUFA desaturase and elongase activities might present in many marine invertebrates such as, sea urchin [30]. Parastichopus californicus, a cold water species that harvested in Alaska had higher EPA (22.60%) and lower ARA (7.10%) [7]. EPA constituted for 46.10% in body wall of fresh Cucumaria frondosa, the orange-footed sea cucumber, a temperate species in North-Atlantic Ocean [31].…”

“…Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA) were the primary fatty acid in sea cucumber of which Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) [7] arachidonic acid (ARA) [8], docosaheaxanoic acid (DHA) [9] are the dominant fatty acids being reported across various studies. Mono Unsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA) were detected in the body wall of sea cucumber [6] of which Palmitoleic acid detected as anti-inflammatory effect, anorexic and mitigation on type 2 diabetes [10] and also has potentiality for curing obesity [11].…”