Proximate and elemental composition of <i>Stolephorus commersonnii </i> (Lacepede, 1803) from the coastal waters of South Andaman

Abstract

Proximate and elemental composition of <i>Stolephorus commersonnii</i> were studied from the coastal waters of south Andaman during, September 2011 to August 2012. Parameters observed are, moisture 80.9%, protein 17.2%, lipid 7.7% and carbohydrate 3.2% for immature group and 78.25% of moisture, 19.21% of protein, 8.65% of lipid and 3.63% of carbohydrate for mature group. In the present study, the mature fish group exhibited relatively more values in terms of biochemical constituents than immature group. It might be due to fundamental nitrogen required for maturation, high lipids and proteins are required for liver during pre-spawning stage. Estimated elemental composition shown that Carbon was the major element ranging between 31.12- 47.26 % (<img src='http://www.niscair.res.in/jinfo/xbar.gif' border=0> = 38.64±2.9), followed by Nitrogen 7.8-15.23 % (<img src='http://www.niscair.res.in/jinfo/xbar.gif' border=0> = 6.13±0.05), and Hydrogen 5.33- 7.53 % (<img src='http://www.niscair.res.in/jinfo/xbar.gif' border=0> =11.04±2.8). All the elements were high during January-March 2012 and lowest values were found in August and September 2012.