Eicosapentaenoic acid

Arachidonic acid

Food science

Fatty acid

Biochemistry

Enzyme

Eriocheir

Biology

Docosahexaenoic acid

Animal science

Polyunsaturated fatty acid

Dry matter

Chinese mitten crab

Hepatopancreas

Journal of Food Science and Technology

This study mainly investigated the composition of adult male Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) from four grades/sizes (Grade I: 200–249 g; Grade II: 175–199 g; Grade III: 150–174 g; Grade IV: ≤ 150 g). The results showed that the grade III crabs had the largest gonadsomatic index (GSI), which was significantly higher than the grade I and grade II crabs, no significant difference was found with the grade IV crab. Significant differences in moisture and total lipid contents were observed among various edible parts from different grades of male Eriocheir sinensis. In particular, grade II crabs had the highest total lipid and dry matter content for hepatopancreas. A balanced amino acids composition and a high essential amino acids score (EAAS) were found in the muscle and gonads of grade III crabs. The levels of poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), n-3 PUFA, n-6 PUFA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the hepatopancreas, as well as the contents of PUFA, highly-unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA), n-3 PUFA, arachidonic acid (ARA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in the gonads were significantly increased in the grade II crabs. Taken together, it can generally be concluded that adult male Eriocheir sinensis of 150–200 g (Grade II–III) weight have the highest nutritional quality even though they are not the largest crabs.

Nutritional quality of different grades of adult male chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis