Detailed Analysis of Lipids in Edible Viscera and Muscles of Cooked Crabs Portunus trituberculatus and Portunus pelagicus

The lipid profiles, including lipid classes, phospholipid (PL) classes, fatty acid (FA) composition, and glycerophospholipid (GP) molecular species, in the two edible parts (edible viscera and muscles) of two species of cooked crabs (Portunus trituberculatus and Portunus pelagicus) were systematically characterized for the first time to reveal their nutritional values. For the muscles, PL (66.84-82.23% of total lipids) was the major component of lipids. While for the edible viscera, triacylglycerol (79.04-96.66% of total lipids) was the dominant lipid class. For all lipid samples, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (3.47-22.02% of total FA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (7.30-16.52% of total FA) were the predominant FAs. Among PL from the crab muscles, phosphocholine (61.51-63.27 mol%) and phosphoethanolamine (21.58-23.43 mol%) were abundant. About 250 GP molecular species belonging to six classes, including glycerophosphocholine, lysoglycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoethanolamine, lysoglycerophosphoethanolamine, glycerophosphoserine, and lysoglycerophosphoserine, were identified in crab muscles using direct infusion mass spectrometric method. A majority of the dominant molecular species of GP contained omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, especially EPA and DHA. The useful information obtained in this study makes it possible to use crab lipid for producing higher value-added products for commercial exploitation.