A comparative evaluation of the nutritional quality of three wild populations of female mitten crabs (Eriocheir sensu stricto) in northern China

Abstract

There are three major wild populations of mitten crab (Eriocheir sensu stricto), Suifenhe River (SF), Tumenjiang River (TM) and Liaohe River (LH) in northern China. However, the information on the nutritional quality of these three populations of crabs is still scarce. Thus, we investigated and compared the tissue indices, total edible yield, proximate composition, fatty acid compositions and amino acid contents of these wild crab populations. We showed that: (1) TM population had the highest meat yield among the three populations; (2) TM recorded the highest moisture and the lowest total lipid content in ovary and muscle; (3) a higher level of total n-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids was found in TM, except for the ovary in SF; (4) the three populations had similar essential amino acids scores. In conclusion, Eriocheir s.s. from these three populations all showed a high nutritional quality suitable for humans, especially the TM, which contains more eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid.