On the study of lipid contents, muscle hardness and fatty acid compositions of wild and cultured horse mackerel [Trachrus japonicus]

It is well known that the lipid contents of cultured fishes are higher than those of wild fishes, and generally the cultured horse mackerel Trachrus japonicus, is not suitable for raw consumption because its muscular meat is greasy. In this paper, we mainly investigated the relationship between the lipid contents and muscle hardness of wild and cultured horse mackerel. The results obtained were as follows. The lipid contents in the cultured type were 10-20 times as high as the wild type. On the other hand, the moisture contents in the cultured type were fairly low. The muscle hardness of the cultured type were 1/3-1/4 as compared to the wild type. No remarkable difference was seen in the protein contents, mineral contents and the fatty acid compositions between the wild and the cultured type.