Estimation of Biochemical Composition of Purple Sea Urchin (salmacis Virgulata, L.agassiz and Desor, 1846)

The proximate composition, fatty acids, minerals and vitamins contents of purple sea urchin (Salmacis virgulata) from the spine, viscera, test region of the S. virgulata analysed. Among the different tissues studied, a highest fat, and carbohydrate content of 39.56mg, 23.57mg and 21.94mg was recorded in the test region of the sea urchin which was collected in the Mudasalodai, Southeast coast of India. There were seven different fatty acids (FA’s) were identified from the tissues that were esterified and resulting FA analysis. The analysis showed that the presence of saturated, and higher level of unsaturated fatty acids in particular, alpha linoleic acid (53.26 %). The FA’s were determined as ranging from 1.02% to 53.26%. Nine different vitamins were identified viz., A, D, E, B1, B2, B5, B6, B12 and vitamin C. in the tissues of S. virgulata. The vitamin C was observed as predominant in the tissues. Seven minerals such as Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe, Cu, Na and K were noticed in S. virgulata. However, Na, K and Ca found dominant elements and Cu, Fe, Zn least in utmost all the tissues of the sea urchin.