Sitological Quality Evaluation of Cultured and Wild River Puffer, Takifugu obscurus (Abe)

The present study was performed to evaluate sitological quality of the cultured and wild river puffer, Takifugu obscurus. Proximate composition, the content of extractive nitrogen, the content of nucleotides and their related compounds, total and free amino acid, and fatty acids were analysed and sensory evaluation in the muscle of the river puffer were compared. The cultured river puffer had a higher moisture content compared to the wild fish, while there was no significant difference in crude lipid, crude protein and ash contents. Nucleotides and their related compounds including ATP, ADP, AMP, IMP, HxR and Hx were detected. The result from analyzing ATP-related compound showed difference in total content by wild and cultured river puffer, and IMP content that had largest influence upon the savory taste of sliced raw fish, was higher in the cultured fishes than wild ones. Breaking strength level of the wild river puffer was higher than that of the cultured fish. High levels of C16:0 and C18:0 were shown in all samples and -3 polyunsaturated fatty acid content were not different between the cultured and wild river puffers (P>0.05). Total 17 amino acids were detected in the samples, and most of the samples had high contents of glutamic acid, aspartic acid, lysine and leucine and low contents of cystine, histidine, methionine and tyrosine. The result from surveying free amino acid content of wild and cultured river puffer showed difference in content, but generally taurine and lysine content for the whole free amino acid held the most part. There was no significant difference in texture, flavor and overall acceptance score between the cultured and wild fishes (P>0.05).