Nutritional qualities of common edible cephalopods at the Arabian Sea

Nutritional composition of the edible portions of five commercially important species of cephalopods in the Arabian Sea was evaluated. The selected species included Amphioctopus neglectus, Cistopus indicus, Uroteuthis duvauceli, Sepia pharaonis and Sepiella inermis. The cephalopods were demonstrated to contain protein with balanced proportions of essential to non-essential amino acids (~ 1.2). A. neglectus was found to contain greater quantities of sulfur containing amino acids (23 mg/100 g) and lysine (36 mg/100 g) than other cephalopods, which indicated that the protein can effectively complement the limiting amino acids in our daily diets. The C20–C22 long chain n-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, vital for human health, were found to be predominant in the edible part of the cephalopod species (119-360 mg/100g and 595-1211 mg/100g respectively). The n-3/n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid ratio of U. duvauceli was significantly greater (~10, P < 0.05) than other cephalopods, and may consequently serve as a substitute to balance the greater admission of n-6 fatty acids in our standard utilization of vegetable oil. Fatty acid based atherogenicity and thrombogenicity indices (<0.8 and