Seasonal Changes in Proximate Composition of Some Fish Species From the Black Sea

Abstract

Nutritional composition of four marine fish species (horse mackerel, garfish, golden mullet, and shad), constitute to 25% of the total marine fish production in Turkey, was examined monthly during the catching season (October through March). Among fish species studied; horse mackerel, garfish, and golden mullet revealed increases in protein up to 35% until December and then a dramatic decrease in January up to 30%. Fat content was also found increasing until December in horse mackerel and garfish, and a sudden decrease was observed in January. Protein content varied between 13.0-19.8% among the species studied on fresh weight basis. The lowest protein content was found to be in horse mackerel, 14.8% and the highest in garfish, 16.9%. The results showed that shad gives the highest energy upon consumption due to high fat content, throughout four months from December to March. Fat content of garfish and golden mullet was found to below compared to other species studied Consequently, energy values of these two species were low, 479 and 460 kj/100 g, respectively.