Chemical composition of crystalline style in some bivalve molluscs off Porto Novo Coast

Abstract

Crystalline style in <i>Anadara rhombea</i> (Born), <i>Crassostrea madrasensis</i> (Preston), <i>Meretrix meretrix</i> (Linnaeus), <i>M. casta</i> (Chemnitz), Katelysia opima (Gmelin), Donax cuneatus (Linnaeus) and <i>Perna viridis</i> (Linnaeus) consisted of proteins, carbohydrates, inorganic solids and water. Lipids were totally absent. There was a wide variation in total organic substances (proteins and carbohydrates), ranging from 9.6% (<i>C. madrasensis</i>) to 22.3% (<i>P. viridis</i>). These variations may be attributed to the structure of the style sac in which the style is secreted and housed. More than 90% of dry matter of the style was proteins and carbohydrates. Irrespective of the species, the ratio between proteins and carbohydrates was approximately 3:1.