Correlation between body weight and nutritional value of alosa kessleri

In this study, chemical composition and fatty acid content in Alosa kessleri regarding to body weight was determined. Thirty fish (average weight = 47.43 ± 33.47 g) in the weight range of 10.3 to 123.0 g were caught by gill net from Caspian Sea (Chalous, Iran) and transported to laboratory for further analysis. A significant correlation between fish weight and protein (r = 0.458, P = 0.011) and fat (r =-0.622, P = 0.001) content was observed. There was a close range of the three groups of fatty acids to each other, saturated fatty acids (SFA = 31.41%), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA = 30.69%), and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA = 29.18%). Palmitic acid (C16:0) (20.85% of total fatty acids), and oleic acid (C18:1) (24.95% of total fatty acids), were the most abundant SFAs and MUFAs, respectively. A higher content of n-3 fatty acids was observed than n-6 fatty acids, resulting in n-3/n-6 ratio of 5.25. A significant correlation was found for DHA/EPA ratio (r = 0.449, P = 0.013) with fish weight. The results of the study indicated that protein and lipid content and DHA/EPA ratio were influenced by body weight.