COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PROXIMATE AND MINERAL COMPOSITIONS OF FERAL AND CULTURED GECARCINID CRAB

Abstract

The proximate and mineral compositions in the muscle of feral and cultured gecarcinid crab, Cardiosoma armatum (Herklots, 1851), were determined to identify their nutritional differences. With the exception of a significantly higher crude fat content in the cultured crabs (P < 0.05), there were no significant differences in the moisture, crude protein, total ash or carbohydrate contents of both types of crabs (P > 0.05). Feral crab groups showed significant higher content of calcium, sodium and potassium, but significantly lower magnesium and phosphorus contents. In feral crab group, only the total ash content showed a positive correlation with all the investigated minerals with respective values of 0.977, 0.999, 0.976, 0.997 and 0.999 for calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium and phosphorus. Whereas, crude protein, crude fiber in addition to total ash content showed positive correlation with magnesium sodium and potassium in the cultured crabs. The feral crabs are superior
to cultured crabs in terms of valuable minerals like calcium, sodium and potassium contents.