Nutritional Composition of Sea Cucumber Isostichopus sp.

Abstract

The knowledge of the chemical composition of invertebrates as sea cucumber contributes to im-proving our understanding of these living organisms. This study compared the chemical composi-tion of wild sea cucumber Isostichopus sp., between February 2013 and January 2014. Sea cu-cumbers 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 sam-ple. 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 competi-tive commercial value for use in food.