Proximate, Amino Acid and Fatty Acid Compositions of Three Species of Stock Fish Sold in Selected Markets of Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Fishes are consumed for their taste, high protein content, amino acids and saturated fatty acids. However, nutritional information on stock fish consumed in Bayelsa State is limited. In this study, proximate, amino acid and fatty acid compositions of three stock fish species (cod, apama and ramsi black cod) from three different markets in Bayelsa State were determined using standard methods. The proximate composition revealed that fibre was high (8.87%) in Apama when compared to Cod (3.85%) and Ramsi black cod (6.73%). Protein content was higher in Cod (13.30%) compared to Apama and Ramsi black cod with values of 11.20% and 10.50% respectively. The carbohydrate content was 60.85% for Ramsi black cod, 60.83% for cod and 46.86% for Apama. Eighteen amino acids were screened in the stockfish samples and glutamate was seen to be higher in all the stockfish samples (14.70, 15.23 and 14.67 g/100 g of Protein) followed by aspartate (12.20, 12.09 and 12.07 g/100 g of Protein) for cod, apama and ramsi black cod respectively when compared with the other amino acids. The result of the fatty acids revealed that twelve fatty acids were seen in the stockfish samples analysed. For cod, Hexadecanoic acid was seen to be higher (21.84 µg/ml), apama, omega 3 fatty acid and Linoleic acid (34.15 µg/ml) while ramsi black cod had oleic acid (41.05 µg/ml) to be higher. The results showed that the fish species are nutritious as they had high protein content, essential and non-essential amino acids and saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.