Seasonal Variation in the Nutritional Content of Mideodeok Styela clava

摘要

We evaluated changes in the nutritional composition of Mideodeok Styela clava harvested during the months of January, March, and May 2005. Glutamic acid, aspartic acid, arginine, leucine, and lysine were the most dominant amino acids present. Ratios of essential amino acids to nonessential amino acids were comparable to those of many fish species, with values ranging from 0.55 to 0.61 and 0.66 to 0.67 for muscle of Mideodeok from Geoje and Tongyeong, respectively. Mideodeok seems to be a suitable source of important fatty acids as it contains high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Eicosapentanoic acid EPA; 20:5n-3 and docosahexanoic acid DHA; 22:6n-3 were the most dominant fatty acids, ranging from 20.0 to 22.3 and 16.5 to 17.9 in muscle, and20.3 to 23.2 and 15.2 to 18.8 in tunic, respectively. The total mineral fraction of Mideodeok was 22.2-27.3 of dry matter. Sodium, calcium, magnesium, and potassium were the most dominant minerals in both muscle and tunic.