Author(s)

Wensy Vergara^*, Adriana Rodríguez

Grupo de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico en Acuicultura, Facultad de Ingenierías, Universidad del Magdalena, Santa Marta, Colombia.

The knowledge of the chemical composition of invertebrates as sea cucumber contributes to improving our understanding of these living organisms. This study compared the chemical composition of wild sea cucumber Isostichopus sp., between February 2013 and January 2014. Sea cucumbers were captured by hand by artisanal fishermen and transported alive to the laboratory of Aquaculture of the Universidad del Magdalena (Colombia), where they were subsequently killed and taken to freeze until analysis. For proximate analysis 20 g of muscle were used for each sample. The analysis (in triplicate) was performed according to [1]. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in the protein content, lipids and ash were found. The chemical composition ranged from 2.74% to 6.63% for protein; about 0.07% to 0.35% for lipids; 3.16% to 3.81% for ash; between 83.74% and 86.92% for moisture. Chemical composition of muscle Isostichopus sp. was similar to that reported for fresh sea cucumbers internationally traded, which indicates that it is a species with a competitive commercial value for use in food.

Caribbean Sea, Chemical Composition, Isostichopus, Protein, Lipids

Vergara, W. and Rodríguez, A. (2016) Nutritional Composition of Sea Cucumber Isostichopus sp.. Natural Resources, 7, 130-137. doi: 10.4236/nr.2016.73013.