Comparative Fatty Acid Profiling of Edible Fishes in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the relative nutritional benefit of edible Malaysian fishes from the coast of Terengganu in Malaysia, as well as to perform a taxonomical characterization and metal assessment. Discrimination between species was carried out by a morphological and molecular approach by evaluating the total concentrations of metals by ICP-MS analyses and the fatty acids (FA) composition using the GC–MS approach on the fish fillet tissues. The taxonomical studies detected fishes of 11 families and 13 species. The heavy metal assessment showed that all detected elements did not exceed the regulatory limit stated by Malaysian Food Regulations. The proportion of saturated fatty acids (SFA) ranged from 33 to 58.34%, followed by the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) values from 24 to 51.8%, and the lowest proportion was of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), ranging from 12.7 to 35.9%. The ω-3/ω-6 PUFA and PUFA/SFA ratios were determined in the range 1.1 to 7.4 and 0.35 to 1.6, respectively. The C20:5 ω-3 and C22:6 ω-3 acids were detected at levels comparable to those found in the corresponding species from similar tropical marine ecosystems. The high FA values can be useful biochemical tools for comparing the relative nutritional benefits of these biodiverse and non-toxic edible Malaysian fishes.

Biodiversity Studies for Sustainable Lagoon: Thermophilic and Tropical Fish Species vs. Endemic Commercial Species at Mellah Lagoon (Mediterranean, Algeria)

“…Taxonomic identification procedures were applied as reported by Tramice et al [25]. The family, genus, and species levels were discriminated on the basis of features of the head; body shape and color; eye diameter and position; opercle; lateral line; the number, position, and form of the fins; the size and shape of the scales; the shape and position of the mouth; and the type of teeth.…”

“…Molecular identification was also performed for all fish specimens on 100 mg of tissue using the barcoding method reported by Di Finizio et al [27] and the following primers: COI_UP (5 -ACTTCAGGGTGACCGAAGAATCAGAA-3 ) and COI_DW (5 -ATCTTTGGTGCATGAGCAGGAATAGT-3 ), as utilized in previous studies [5,25,28]. To confirm the identification, the fragments of COI tRNA sequences obtained after amplification, purification, and sequencing were then compared with COI rRNA sequence data in GenBank [29] belonging to the identified species examined using FASTA [30].…”

“…Furthermore, Inkscape schematic drawings for the most common species have been provided, and anatomical keys for identification were recorded (see Table S2) to enable the fast, accurate, and cost-effective identification of fishery products. A similar approach was previously utilized in our studies for samples from the Tyrrhenian Sea (Italian Mediterranean coast) [80] and the Egyptian coast [5,81], as well as for Atlantic species [27] and Asian species [25]. The present work of species discrimination at Mellah lagoon is an update of the most recent overview of this lagoon's biodiversity conducted by Chaoui et al [22] and by Embarreket et al (in 2017) [23] and confirms the taxonomic data of widely distributed species that were present in 2006.…”

Fatty Acids in Waste Tissues: The Nutraceutical Value of Gonads and Livers from the Moroccan Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and Cyprinus carpio Fishes

“…From a nutritional point of view, it is an established fact that farmed or freshwater fish tissues are a precious source of health-beneficial PUFAs, mainly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; C20:5 ω-3), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; C22:6 ω-3), linoleic acid (LA; C18:2 ω-6), and arachidonic acid (AA; C20:4 ω-6). These ω-3 and ω-6 FAs have a pivotal role in the human diet in preventing many diseases [ 22 , 23 , 24 ]; in this sense, 2–3 servings of fish per week or the consumption of 250 mg of EPA and DHA per day are recommended by nutritionists [ 25 ]. The biological role of fish lipids and, in particular, of their fatty acids sets has been extensively described: lipids are important for fish development because they represent a concentrated source of energy and are involved in many physiological functions (structural component for cellular membrane, precursor of vitamins, hormones, eicosanoids, thermal processes such as osmoregulation and immune response, sexual development) [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”

Biological Effects Assessment of Antibiofouling EDCs: Gaeta Harbor (South Italy) Benthic Communities' Analysis by Biodiversity Indices and Quantitative gpx4 Expression

“…Continuous monitoring is necessary to provide information about the biofouling structure. For this, the census and identification represent an important step in establishing the abundance or rarity of the biofouling species as well as to detect possibly cryptic species and even to describe new species (Di Finizio et al 2007 ; Mazzeo et al 2008 ; Tramice et al 2021 ). The newest European Union (EU) political actions regarding maritime strategic objectives, such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), and the European Strategy for Marine and Maritime Research (Bilecenoglu et al 2013 ) represent a push to draw up an inventory of the alien species in the Mediterranean Sea.…”