Comparing the Muscle Nutritional Quality of Eight Common Wild-Caught Economic Shrimp Species from the East China Sea

There are abundant resources of wild shrimp in the East China Sea. In this study, the muscle yield and levels of proximate biochemical composition, fatty acids, amino acids, nutritional minerals, and toxic heavy metal elements composing the muscles were determined in eight common wild-caught economic shrimp species (Parapenaeopsis hardwickii, Exopalaemon carinicauda, Solenocera melantho, Palaemon gravieri, Marsupenaeus japonicus, Oratosquilla oratoria, Fenneropenaeus chinensis, Solenocera crassicornis). The results were as follows: the muscle yields of F. chinensis and M. japonicus were relatively high, with up to approximately 51%. O. oratoria had the lowest muscle yield, which was only 27.71%. In terms of proximate biochemical composition, F. chinensis and S. crassicornis had better high protein and low fat characteristics among the eight shrimp species. For fatty acid profile, S. crassicornis and P. hardwickii had better nutritional values, which was mainly due to their higher content of important fatty acids, such as C20:4n6, C20:5n3, sigma PUFA, sigma n-3PUFA, sigma n-6PUFA, and sigma HUFA. In contrast, E. carinicauda and F. chinensis had poor fatty acid composition, and their sigma MUFA and sigma SFA contents were higher, while their sigma PUFA and sigma HUFA contents were lower. There were significant differences in the amino acid composition of the different shrimp species. Overall, F. chinensis had the highest contents of essential amino acids (EAA), nonessential amino acids (NEAA), and total amino acids (TAA), followed by S. crassicornis, while the O. oratoria amino acid content was the lowest. The essential amino acid score (EAAS) of the eight shrimp species was above 100, indicating that there were no restricted amino acids. The mean values of EAAS were also slightly different in the eight shrimp species. Considering the contents of various mineral nutrients, the contents in F. chinensis were low, while those in E. carinicauda, S. crassicornis, and P. hardwickii were higher. The contents of toxic heavy metal elements in the eight shrimp species were similar to each other, and the values were extremely low and within the food safety standards range. Overall, the different shrimp species exhibited some differences in the nutritional composition, and each had its advantages and disadvantages. However, it was obvious that S. crassicornis had a relatively good composition of proximate biochemical, fatty acids, amino acids, and mineral elements, and it had the highest comprehensive nutritional value among the eight shrimp species.