CHBPTER 7
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
The main components of the food are proteins or amino acids,
carbohydrates, fats, mineral salts, water, and vitamins. The nutritional
requirements of euphausiids are not known because of the difficulty of
maintaining these organisms in culture over long periods. Consequently,
most of the discussions in this chapter are of the qualitative and
quantitative aspects of substances which have been identified in the
bodies of these animals. For example, most work on the occurrence of
vitamins in Crustacea is restricted to their identification and measurement in relation to evaluating the Crustacea as food for man and other
vertebrate animals. There are, however, several papers describing the
lipid contents and these will be discussed in some detail.
The bodies of euphausiids can be divided into several basic fractions
-water, ash, and organic matter. Hirano et al. (1964) divided the
organic matter into two parts (Table IX) which they call “ crude fat ”
and “ crude protein ”. Vinogradova (1967) found protein to represent
TABLE IX. WATER, ASH, AND PROTEIN IN EUPHAUSIIDS (yo WET WEIGHT)
Species
Crude
Crude
Aulhor~y
fat
protein
Water
Ash
Euphausia superba
whole
76.0-89.3
1.48
1’16-4.61
- Heyerdald
edible part
76.6
1.48
2.66
19.63 Hirano et al.
othere
79-8
3.29
2.12
13.88 Hirano et al.
Euphausia pacijica
79.9
2.86
1.59
16.25 Hirano et al.
84-6
1.07
0.41
12.0
Nakai (1955)
Euphausia krohnii
80.0
3-70
-
- Curl (1962a)
Meganyctiphanes
81.0
4.30
-
- Curl (1962a)
norvegica
74-5
3.40
-
- Mauchline
(unpubl.)
(1932)
(1964)
(1964)
(1964)
82.863.8
1.81
-
- Lasker (1966)