Proximate Composition and Colour Values of Muscle Tissue of Male and Female Blunt-Snouted Mullet (Mullus ponticus Essipov, 1927) From Black Sea

In the Mediterranean and Black Sea, red mullet is a fish species of significant commercial value. It usually inhabits sandy and muddy bottoms in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean basins, which include the Black Sea. Red mullet is subject to high fishing pressure from bottom trawling and small-scale fisheries, making it one of the most valuable bottom fish in the Mediterranean. It’s also one of the primary species that bottom trawls catch for commercial purposes. Red mullet’s distinct habitat requirements and sensitivity to environmental changes make it a commercially valuable species in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Its high economic value and ecological importance make it an important focus of research and fisheries management efforts. The objective of this research was to ascertain the nutritional makeup and muscle tissue colour values of red mullet, both male and female, that were collected using bottom gillnets at Sinop, a Black Sea coastal city in the south. In this study, crude protein, crude fat, crude ash, moisture, carbohydrate, and energy values in female blunt-snouted mullet were found as 18.81%, 9.51%, 1.29%, 69.74%, 0.66%, and 199.14 Kcal/100 g. In male red mullet, crude protein, crude fat, crude ash, moisture, carbohydrate, and energy values were determined as 19.06%, 10.07%, 1.16%, 68.97%, 0.73%, and 206.20 Kcal/100 g. Colour analysis is an important finding in distinguishing females and males in various fish species and in understanding sexual dimorphism. It was found that female red mullets were more reddish and yellowish than male red mullets.